In 2009, I was in India when I caught dysentery. The doctors needed answers fast — vaccinations, allergies, pre-existing conditions. I was sat there, sick, exhausted, thousands of miles from home, trying to remember things I'd never thought to memorise.

Over the years I've travelled to Japan, South Africa, the US, Spain, Switzerland, France, Norway, Finland, Tunisia, Canada, Dubai, Qatar — and the story never changed. Paper slips in jacket pockets. A blood group card somewhere in a drawer.

So I built Syncura. One place for your entire health story — encrypted, portable, and controlled entirely by you.

Because moving countries shouldn't mean starting your health history from scratch.

I moved from Toronto to Lisbon last year. Three months in, I got a sinus infection and walked into a local clinic. The doctor spoke minimal English. She started writing a prescription and I recognised the word "penicilina."

I have a severe penicillin allergy. Back home, that was in my file, on my chart, in the system. Here? I was just a tourist with a cough. I pulled out my phone, opened Syncura, and showed her my allergy list. She changed the prescription immediately.

Having my records in one place, in a language anyone can read, probably saved my life that day.

I'm a software developer with Crohn's disease. In the last four years I've lived in Berlin, then Bangkok, now Ho Chi Minh City. Every move meant finding a new gastroenterologist, retelling my entire history, and praying they'd believe me about what medications worked.

In Berlin my GP had my file. In Bangkok, I had to carry a folder of printouts. In Vietnam, I started photographing every document. It was chaos. Now I upload everything to Syncura — scans, photos, discharge papers — and every new doctor sees the full picture from day one.

I finally feel like I have control over my own health story.

We moved our family from Manchester to Mexico City for work. The visa application required complete vaccination records for my two kids — not just recent ones, but the full history from birth. Those records were at our old GP in the UK, who'd since retired and closed his practice.

After three weeks of phone calls, emails, and a very expensive trip to a travel clinic for duplicate jabs, we finally got the paperwork. I swore never again. Every shot, every record, every piece of paper now goes straight into Syncura. If we move again — and we probably will — I'm ready.

Next time, I'll have everything in 30 seconds.