Live your life boldly ...

I have decided to write a book as during my 5 year recovery from a very near fatal helicopter accident, people have always been commenting on how inspirational they find my story and how they feel I have a lot to give back to people with what I have learnt and been through.

My accident happened in Johannesburg on April 4, 2005 and I was admitted to Milpark Trauma Unit , also in Joburg. I have since found out that they are THE best Trauma Unit in the Southern Hemisphere. Thank goodness !! I was not initially expected to live and my 2 sons ( 13 and 18 at the time) were being prepared for my potential demise. And for those surgeons to have thought I was potentially NOT going to make it, it’s not like it was coming from a bunch of pussy-cats, hey ? What with THEIR reputation !!

But survive I did !! I spent about 2 ½ months in I.C.U, mostly as what they term a 24/7 patient : they were not allowed to leave my bedside. I have now had 17 operations in all and NEVER want to see another hospital ever again in my life !! Done my time !! After I.C.U I spent a further about 6 months in a Rehabilitation Hospital.

I am all good now and any vestiges of my accident can be disguised and hidden with a pair of Bermudas. In my long recovery, though, I went through physical, financial and brain-damage hardships and challenges : most of them quite severe and some still on-going.

As I sustained Traumatic Brain Injury (T.B.I) , I cannot renew my Aviation Medical and can therefore not fly again. Sob !! Sob !! However, I am now pursuing a second passion of mine : Life Coaching. How lucky am I ??!!

Even though my long recovery has been difficult, I feel that I have received a lot of gifts from my accident and I have learnt a lot of Life Lessons, with what I have been through. I actually now believe that the accident has been one of the major beneficial turning points in my life. I have also met some incredible people in the last 5 years for which I am extremely grateful. I feel truly blessed !!

Just a bit of background as to how I found myself at my accident:

I had a very bad and disruptive childhood and basically found myself on the streets at 15 with an incomplete education. But I went back to University at 27 as a mature student and qualified in the top 5% of my degree : Bachelor of Accounting Science. So at 31 I became a qualified and registered accountant. Through a stroke of good luck I started my own private consulting business and made a lot of money. With that money I became a qualified Commercial Helicopter Pilot at 43, I only STARTED flying at 41. Learning to fly a helicopter is NOT cheap !!! I am here to tell everyone, you’re NEVER too old to follow your passions!!!! I am now 50 and qualifying as a Life Coach and now potentially becoming a Best Selling Author, if you all buy my book. (Ha! Ha!) Even though I am 50 and feel like a spring-chicken and usually behave like a badly behaved adolescent, my 18 year old Chesney reckons I walk with the dinosaurs and am qualified with the abacus from school. Youth !! Bless them !!!

I have been through some incredible hardships and challenges in my recovery but I have ALWAYS kept going. I have learnt a lot from what I have been through: both good and bad. I have cried a lot and been very depressed but I have also laughed a lot and been through some extremely funny things.

When my children were being prepared for my imminent departure from this earth, my eldest son, Cheyne, said “My mother is going nowhere She is way too OBSTINATE and she will stick around on purpose to continue giving us a hard time. She is going NOWHERE !!”

So, guys, LIVE YOUR LIFE BOLDLY . Never give up and keep following your passions OK ??!!