My Story - The people who shaped and influenced my future - My Gran.

I spent many of my school days staying with my grandmother and great-grandmother while my parents travelled overseas.

This is my Mom’s mom; my gran - we called her Ouma.

My fondest memories of my gran (Ouma) and great-gran (Oumie) was that they maintained an immaculate house, doing all the housework and in the afternoons, when I came home from school, the smell of  ‘Rooibos’ (red bush) tea on the stove filled the house, ready in waiting for my after school lunch. Every time I smell Rooibos today, I think of her and how well she took care of me. 

As time went on, I started noticing that she became more and more buckled over from Rheumatoid arthritis. It got to a point that she was operated on her spine and came home with a rod in her spine and a ‘halo’ in her skull. 

It was very traumatic for me as a child, as all I remember was how she looked with the ‘halo’. When writing this blog, I had to ask my Mom for more info about how long she wore the ‘halo’, it seems as if I blocked that out of my mind. My Mom said it couldn’t have been long. But it would have to have been, giving the rod time to settle. My Mom said she only remembers how much my gran suffered from her arthritis.  

I can only imagine how awful it was for her. I can’t even imagine how she would’ve slept. 

I promised myself that nobody should suffer that way if I could help make a difference and help them avoid such torture. 

And the Personal Trainer and Pilates instructor was born. 

What is your story? What is your catapult of doing what you do?