At the age of 21, it felt that my life was over. I suffered liver and kidney damage from excessive alcohol and drug abuse. My joints were swollen and very painful and I was at an all-time low. The physical pain and mental shame, competed to try and overwhelm me, and I was faced with the choice to continue this downward spiral or make a conscious decision and start to live.

This is my story and how I found myself:

I was born 8 August 1973 in the small Limpopo Town of Mokopane, South Africa to my parents; Willem Johannes Horne & Johanna Nicoline van Eyk.

Diagnosed with the congenital heart disease “Wolf-Parkinson-White Syndrome” at age 12, I was told by my cardiologists to cease all sport and other activities and to live a slow inactive life to avoid the risk of having a heart attack as surgery in my case was not an option and I did not respond well to medication.

Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome is a heart condition that causes the heart to beat abnormally fast for periods of time. It is a relatively uncommon condition, diagnosed in between one and three in every 1,000 people and symptomatically affecting only about one percent of those diagnosed.

The cause is an extra electrical connection in the heart. This problem with the heart is present at birth (congenital), although symptoms may not develop until later in life. WPW syndrome can sometimes be life-threatening, particularly if it occurs alongside a type of irregular heartbeat called atrial fibrillation.

People with WPW syndrome, experience episodes where your heart suddenly starts racing, before stopping or slowing down abruptly. This rapid heart rate, in my case, is called supraventricular tachycardia (SVT). Symptoms during SVT include a pounding or fluttering heartbeat (heart palpitations), feeling light-headed or dizzy, shortness of breath, chest pain, sweating, feeling anxious, and passing out (fainting)

These episodes can last for seconds, minutes, hours and sometimes even for days. They normally occur randomly, without any identifiable cause, but they can sometimes be triggered by strenuous exercise or drinking a lot of alcohol or caffeine.

At that time in my life, I was very active practicing Shukokai Karate and competed in Athletics. After being diagnosed, I was soon bullied and ridiculed at school for not participating in any sports anymore, especially rugby and swimming and for sitting in the “sick, lame and lazy” bench with a never-ending supply of excuse letters from my mom.

After finishing school, I reported for compulsory military duty. I was classified as “fit for light duty” and was again ridiculed by my peers and superiors for being a “softy”. I spent most of my time in the military in the hospital until I was finally discharged from the military as “medically unfit for duty”.

After my discharge, I started working as a security guard in Pretoria and was soon promoted to vehicle driver and eventually to transport supervisor.

During those days there was no such thing as the basic conditions of employment act. My work hours were 05:00-20:00, 7 days a week. To cope with the workload and long hours I started drinking, later doing casual drugs which lead to abuse. My body could not cope with the hammering and my mind quit leading to me losing my job. At age 21 I lived the hard life resulting in my body and mind losing the battle. I felt ashamed as I felt like a failure. Working hard and playing even harder did not bring me peace and joy. It was then that I made the conscious decision to do something with my life.

I sobered up, joined a church youth ministry, and started work as a laboratory assistant in a metallurgical laboratory at a big mining company and later started my own successful ICT business. My love for people and a deep calling for more, led me to study theology and I became a part-time minister and facilitated a range of small groups and counselling sessions. Still, I never felt satisfied. I developed a passion for making music and soon learned to play bass guitar. I played bass guitar in several church and secular bands and progressed to leading bands with singing while playing bass.

I thought I was on the right track…

At age 37 during a health check-up for medical aid admittance, medical staff were shocked at my state of health and wanted to immediately hospitalise me in fear of me having a stroke. My blood pressure was 185/120, cholesterol level at 12 and I was pre-obese at 97kg. I was left facing a challenging choice; die of a stroke or die of a heart attack.

Self-Discovery.

With no hope in sight, it was during this time that my good friend Cobus Visser invited me to attend a Self-Discovery course. I was still under the illusion that my life was fine and that I did not need help. Eventually my wife persuaded me to attend and in this very training I was faced head-on with my own limiting beliefs. During the training, I discovered the reality of who I really am and what my purpose in life is. This sparked me to have a new zeal in life and I decided to start to live instead of just to exist.

I started to exercise by running, eating healthier and refocusing my mind. During this time, my passion for helping others discover their purpose in life as I did with mine started to develop. I enrolled and trained as a certified Life Coach and Neuro Linguistic Programming Coach and then founded my couching company HIS Image Life Skills & Coaching. Since then, I attended numerous certification courses and have facilitated even more seminars, courses and empowerment events as well as co-developed several training manuals and events. At last, my life started to make sense as I discovered my purpose here on earth and reason for living.