The Imperfects Matt Preston - Only 14 Summers Left
Mar 8, 2026
Matt Preston, famed food critic, TV presenter and author, shares personal stories about family loss, dementia care, epilepsy advocacy and facing mortality. He discusses conversations about end-of-life planning, caring for a parent at home, grieving while someone changes, and how loss reshaped his life and parenting. The tone is candid, practical and heartfelt.
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Brother's Death Sparked SUDEP Awareness
- Matt describes his brother's late-onset epilepsy and how SUDEP (sudden unexplained death in epilepsy) wasn't acknowledged when he died.
- His mother's activism after the death created bereavement networks and pushed SUDEP into public awareness.
House Sale Moment Reawakened Memory Echoes
- Matt recounts how selling his mother's house erased visceral memory triggers tied to his brother, like the shared bedroom and stairs.
- Standing in those exact spaces initially felt like memory loss, but he realised memories remain internally even if spaces change.
Choose Quality Not Just More Time
- Matt Preston frames late-life planning as maximising quality not just length of life.
- He calculates '14 summers left' at age 65 to prompt choosing meaningful experiences now, not deferring until too late.
