I have actually been on a “health journey” my entire life.
Welcome to my website!! I am so excited that you are visiting today. I want to ask you a few questions to start off with. Are you feeling completely stressed out? Or are you sick-and-tired of feeling sick and tired all the time? Or have you just been diagnosed with diabetes or an incurable auto-immune disease? Do you feel totally overwhelmed and don’t even know where to start to get your health back on track?
Don’t worry!! I know exactly how you feel. I have already been just where you are right now. I have also struggled with many of these feelings over the last decade. Since I was a child, I have always been active. Moreover, I was raised in a health-conscious family. My dad had his own karate club in South Africa and I trained most days for many years. I did karate, ballet, athletics, played hockey and tennis. I became an aerobics instructor in my early twenties and trained A LOT!! Okay, I admit, I was a bit of a sport “junkie” in my earlier years… ha ha … I am so grateful for the foundation which my parents laid in my life. To value health, to look after your body and to invest into your health. This all became very relevant in my life at the end of 2017.
This is when I really started to struggle with my health. So, let me tell you how it all began and how I ended up with major health concerns. In August 2014 my dad suddenly passed away from a heart attack which impacted my family in a very dramatic way. My mum took my dad’s death extremely hard and it felt like I actually lost both my parents the day my dad died. Mum just completely withdrew herself and probably tried to just make the best of the tragic situation. I never realised that I was an emotional eater until Dad died. During that time, I picked up almost 8 kilograms at a time when my work was also extremely stressful. Thinking about it, my work as a statistical programmer has actually always been pretty stressful. So, in 2015 I decided to quit my job here in the UK. I left the UK to spend some time with my family back in South Africa. Sadly my mum passed away during that time; only 11 months after my dad. Nothing in life can ever prepare you for this type of trauma and heartache!!
After sorting out my mum’s funeral and her estate, I moved to Switzerland for a new job opportunity, working as a statistical programmer for a big pharmaceutical company in Basel. However, the challenges didn’t end after that. During 2016 I had a major financial set back which nearly cost me one of my most valued relationships. Early in 2017 I received the news that our programming and data management departments were being moved to India and we were all being made redundant. This news came as a major shock at the time and I really started questioning my life and my life’s purpose. This is when I decided that I needed to make a complete change in my life and I re-trained as a Health & Wellness Coach. I started my journey at IIN (Institute of Integrative Nutrition) in July 2017. This was actually the BEST decision I have ever made.
A few months after the redundancy news, I was required to work on a very stressful oncology project and this is where everything finally caught up with me. All the stress and trauma from the last 5 years. This was also the first time in my whole programming career where I tried to push back working on a project, but to no avail. To make a long story short, I woke up one Sunday morning and realised I had lost all vision in my right eye. That eye was completely blind! After spending hours at the hospital, I was admitted; initially diagnosed with optic neuritis in my right eye. After 5 days of really intensive tests, MRIs, steroid treatment, and a spinal tap, I was finally diagnosed with an incurable auto-immune disease. It was the first time I actually realised what type of damage stress, trauma and exhaustion (mentally & physically) can do to your body. Let me tell you, my body and spirit were crushed at this point. I just couldn’t take ANY more. It felt like I had lost everything… my parents, my finances, my job and also now my health.
But fortunately, this was not the end of my story! One thing I have learned through all of this, is that God can turn our ashes into BEAUTY! The thing I needed most at the time was rest and time to heal. To heal from my stress, to heal from losing my parents, to heal from losing my job, etc. Luckily, I finished work during May of 2018 and I had 6 months gardening leave (just what I needed). The time off helped me to complete my IIN course, go on a trip to Greece with my best friend and I also went on an amazing cruise through Croatia. This gave me the time to get my health back on track. After completing my health coaching course, I decided to join the School of Applied Functional Medicine (SAFM) to deepen my knowledge. This was a complete game changer for me!! Everything I learned at SAFM helped me to stabilise my auto-immune condition, put it into remission and to improve my health dramatically. I had no progression in my auto-immune condition since my diagnosis in 2017 (touch wood) and this is all thanks to what I have learned at SAFM.
If you are at that point where you feel you need to make a change to improve your health BUT you just don’t know where to start, then contact me today. I can help YOU take back control over your own health!!!
Credentials
Member of
IIN Certificate
AFMC Certification
Glowing with Health Ltd - 1Cor10:31 