One suitcase, three kids: a broke scientist pursues a dream

One suitcase, three kids: a broke scientist pursues a dream

Author: BBC World Service December 29, 2025 Duration: 40:30

When Ijeoma Uchegbu arrived back in the UK as a single mum of three young children she soon found herself living in a homeless shelter; now she is a pioneer in the field of nanoparticles in medicine.

Ijeoma Uchegbu has dedicated her career to studying pharmaceutical nanoscience, seeking out ways to carry medicines to parts of the body that are notoriously hard to reach. But as a schoolgirl in the UK her aspirations were to work in a shop and earn enough to go dancing at weekends. It was when her Nigerian father took her back to his home country, aged 13, that she discovered a passion for science and a burning ambition.

Ijeoma went to university at 16, married and started a family of her own but when her marriage failed, desperate to do a PhD she moved back to the UK. By now Ijeoma was a single mum-of-three. The family had one suitcase, no coats, and just £500 to start a new life. It was a battle to keep the family afloat, fed, and safe. But Ijeoma is a fighter; soon she had a job in a lab and a home and a few years later she found love again.

Ijeoma co-founded a pharmaceutical company with her new husband. They are currently developing eyedrops to treat blindness and a nasal spray to target pain which she hopes will go some way to addressing the opioid crisis. She was given a damehood earlier this year and is a champion of race equality, and it turns out she also has a talent for stand-up comedy.

Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: Andrea Kennedy

Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. Each episode a guest shares their most dramatic, moving, personal story. Listen for unbelievable twists, mysteries uncovered, and inspiring journeys - spanning the entire human experience. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. Got a story to tell? Send an email to liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or message us via WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784 You can read our privacy notice here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5YD3hBqmw26B8WMHt6GkQxG/lives-less-ordinary-privacy-notice


There's a particular kind of curiosity that strikes in a crowded street or a quiet cafe, a sudden awareness of the countless unseen narratives unfolding all around us. Lives Less Ordinary, from the BBC World Service, is built on that very human impulse. Each episode is an invitation to step through a door you might normally walk past, offering an intimate and often surprising portrait of a single person. The stories you'll hear are drawn from a global tapestry, focusing on individuals whose paths defy simple categorization-whether by choice, circumstance, or sheer force of character. This isn't a series about fame or obvious achievement, but rather about the profound journeys that happen outside the spotlight. You might meet a former spy navigating civilian life, a gardener cultivating peace in a conflict zone, or someone who rebuilt their world from a single, shattered moment. The production carries the depth and sensitivity of documentary storytelling, blending personal journals with rich soundscapes that place you right beside the subject. Listening to this podcast feels less like consumption and more like a genuine connection, a reminder of the resilience, eccentricity, and quiet drama woven into the fabric of ordinary days. It’s for anyone who believes that everyone has a story worth hearing, especially those we rarely get to listen to.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Lives Less Ordinary
Podcast Episodes
Strangers to coworkers to friends to...sisters? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 39:43
Cassandra Madison and Julia Tinetti met working at the same bar in their 20s and were struck by how similar they looked. Their adoption records didn't match, but a surprise gift later revealed the extraordinary truth. Fr…
Taught to kill – my childhood under the Khmer Rouge [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:51
Separated from her family and trained as a child soldier, Loung Ung's unbreakable spirit helped her survive Pol Pot’s regime, which killed nearly a quarter of Cambodia’s population.In the Chinese tradition of Loung Ung's…
Bonus: Dear Daughter: Surviving my daughter's killing [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 24:19
When 19-year-old Ann from Florida, USA was shot by her boyfriend in 2010, her family were thrust into a nightmare, one that meant taking the agonising decision to withdraw her life support.In this intensely moving accoun…
I was taken as a baby…I didn’t know who I was, part 2 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 39:24
Jackie makes sporting history for Ireland and uncovers the truth about her past.Taken from her mother as a baby and raised in an Irish institution, Jackie McCarthy O’Brien grew up in silence, facing prejudice because of…
I was taken as a baby, I didn’t know who I was, part 1 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 39:21
A black girl in a white town, Jackie’s made to grow up silenced and alone. This episode contains outdated racial language that some might find offensive. Jackie McCarthy O’Brien was just a baby when police officers flank…
Skepta’s Mum: How I raised a rap legend [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 21:56
Ify Adenuga grew up with strict parents. As a mum, she rewrote the rulebook and encouraged creativity in her children, with her son Skepta becoming an award-winning music artist.Ify Adenuga is parent to a musical powerho…
Me, dad and the zombie chickens [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 38:49
Filmmaker Lloyd Kaufman railed against Hollywood his whole career as the founder of cult B-movie production house, Troma, while his daughter Lily-Hayes dreamt only of fitting in. Lloyd Kaufman has been the father of anti…
Growing up black in a white family – the truth behind my birth [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 38:59
M People star Andrew Lovell’s home life hid a terrible – yet beautiful – secret. It would take him decades to find out the truth.At the height of his fame, drummer Andrew ‘Shovell’ Lovell had everything he’d dreamed of:…
Music was my salvation: the homeless man and the piano [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 39:22
While Francois Pierron was homeless in London he taught himself to play a public piano at St Pancras train station – from scratch. His mastery of music helped change his future.Francois had a difficult start in life. He…
Hercules: the grizzly bear who became family [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:11
Maggie Robin raised a bear cub who grew into an extraordinary companion.When Maggie Robin and her wrestler husband Andy brought home a bear cub in 1970s Scotland, their friends thought they were mad. But the couple raise…