Development and Career Coach
After seven years at Amazon Web Services, where I amassed over 2,500 hours of one-to-one coaching, I founded Campfire Coaching to inspire the next generation to make better life and career decisions. My journey, marked by resilience and continuous learning, drives my commitment to empowering young people today.
Philip Parrock
I was born in Pretoria in 1990 and completed my schooling at Pretoria Boys High School, before spending a year working in hospitality in rural England and a short stint as an assistant at a retirement village in Cape Town.
I then studied International Studies at Stellenbosch University, going on to complete a Master’s degree in Political Science, focusing on Risk Analysis, Infrastructure Development, and Statistics.
In March 2015, I started working at Amazon Web Services as a Technical Customer Support Associate, before pivoting through content development, quality analysis, training, and onboarding. In 2016, I was promoted to a Team Lead role and, in 2018, to a Team Manager role. It was this role that I continued in until completing my time at AWS, seven years after starting there and having learned an awful lot. After being diagnosed with Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma in February 2018, I spent most of that year either in a hospital bed or in recovery, which led, in no small part, to the start of the journey that I am on today.
At the end of 2019, I completed an Executive and Management Coaching Course at the University of Cape Town (UCT). Taking what I learned in that course and pairing it with my over 2,500 coaching hours as a team manager, I decided to leave Amazon in March 2022 and start my own Development and Career Coaching business, called Campfire Coaching. I hope to help guide and inspire the next generation of young people to make better decisions in their lives and careers. I leverage the knowledge and ability I have built up over the past seven years of one-to-one coaching to see the incredible journeys that young people today can take and continue to take.
"Don't be a prisoner of a steady paycheck.
If your job doesn’t inspire you, it is time to quit."
A Life-Changing Diagnosis at 27
Towards the end of 2017, I had been struggling with hip and lower back pain, for which I had been going to the physio on and off for about four months. On February 4th, I played a full 18 holes at Worcester Country Club, breaking 100 for the first time! Little did I know, everything was about to change. Back at the physio the next day, we decided that the treatment of what we suspected to be a pinched femoral nerve wasn’t really getting any better, so she decided to refer me to a sports physician, whom I saw the next day. Following the physical exam, she couldn’t identify anything physically wrong and sent me for an MRI. I remember the call as if it happened yesterday. “You need to stop what you are doing and come and see me immediately.” Never a good call to take, especially when it’s from a doctor.
The MRI showed multiple lesions on the bone running through the hip, the femur, and the spine. At this point, the cause of the lesions was unknown, but I was to go and see an internist at the Cape Gate Medi Clinic. This was Friday; hard to think I had been on the golf course on Sunday! The internist told me that they were unsure exactly what was causing the lesions but that I should take some time this weekend to gather myself and my thoughts and report back to the hospital for further testing, starting on Monday. Oh, how things can change in a week! I was admitted to the hospital on Sunday evening, 11 February 2018. From here, I went through a battery of blood tests, x-rays, a bone scan, and various other bits and bobs.
It was found that the lesions on my bones were severe and spread from the tops of the legs, hips, and lower back, through the spine, up into the shoulder blades, collarbone, chest, upper right arm, neck, and skull. To clear up the worst of the lesions, I underwent a full right hip replacement on Thursday, 15 February. A biopsy of the femur that they had removed during the surgery was sent for further analysis. On 20 February, the cancer was classified as a B-Cell Lymphoma, and I was admitted to the Kuilsriver Netcare, where I met my haematologist. We completed more blood tests, and I went for a small operation to have a port implanted just below the collarbone on the left side of my chest.
Following this, I had an Electrocardiogram and a Sonar to test the health of the heart. Finally, a manual biopsy was done to analyse a segment of the right side of the hip to see how far the cancer had spread. After a delay at the biopsy lab to fully and finally classify the cancer as a Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma, I started chemotherapy on March 5th, 2018. From here, I would have six different chemo sessions, which involved checking into the hospital on Sunday evening and starting four continuous 24-hour infusions, which would run through to Friday afternoon. Once this was done, I was discharged and allowed to go home for two weeks.
The PET Scan showed that the chemo was killing off the cancer and that it was working. Following the conclusion of the chemo and two rounds of immunotherapy, I was able to focus on getting healthy and back to normal life. Following the hip replacement and the chemo, I had to take some time to learn how to properly walk again and how to ride a bike again. I spent 60 sessions working with the biokineticist to get mobility, strength, and confidence back in the right-hand side of my body. So… if you were wondering where my motivation comes from for wanting to help people figure out what they want to do with their life, here it is.
Since completing chemo, I have been able to live a very normal life and I am completely recovered and healthy. I have been blessed with an amazing wife and a lovely (and chonky) son. There are long-term side effects from the whole process, but I take them over not being able to live life fully any day of the week.
