At 64, He Graduated as a Nurse—Studying at University Alongside His Own Son

John Adesoye's life began far from a university lecture hall. He grew up in a poor farming family in Nigeria, later moved to Greece where he worked as an electronics technician, and eventually settled in the United Kingdom. Along the way he raised five children. Higher education was never something he assumed would be part of his story.

Yet the curiosity that had always driven him never faded. "I didn't think I'd ever go to university, to be honest," he said. "But I have passion for learning. Even when I was small, I was so curious. When I got the chance to go to university, I didn't take it for granted—I followed it with my heart." In Bristol, he committed himself to a demanding path into nursing: a two-year nurse associate program followed by a two-year nurse apprenticeship through a local NHS Foundation Trust.

“He grew up in a poor farming family in Nigeria, later moved to Greece where he worked as an electronics technician, and eventually settled in the United Kingdom.”

There was an extraordinary detail to his studies. At 64, Adesoye attended the University of the West of England one day a week on campus—at the very same university where his son, Daniel, was pursuing a degree in creative music technology. Father and son were students at once, each chasing his own future, sharing an experience most families never get to have across two generations at the same time.

The years of effort paid off. Adesoye graduated as a nurse and secured a position at Southmead Hospital in Bristol, stepping into a caring profession at an age when many people are winding down. His story quietly dismantles the idea that it is ever too late to begin again. A man who started out on a Nigerian farm, who once thought university was beyond his reach, will now spend his days looking after patients—proof that passion and persistence recognize no expiration date.