Six months later we moved to Dubai and my life changed again; I was pregnant, in a foreign country and did not know a soul. What did I do? Well first of all I went to work; I helped out with re-establishing the financial records of the company my husband worked for. Then I had our daughter and started to realise that my life was no longer just mine, and I knew I was going to have to make the changes necessary to adapt once more. I loved being a Mum, I still do, but I also knew I needed more.

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Searching for My Calling

As a teenager I was painfully shy and so my mum signed me up to train and work as a model as a way to build my confidence, and it worked! I loved it – all except photographic work which I still don’t like! But put me on a catwalk and I was in heaven; strutting my stuff, showing off clothes that I’d never get to wear, what was there not to like. Of course, me being me, I needed more.

So, I trained to teach deportment and grooming, and I went on to teach others. Suddenly, my hobby became useful and I found a niche in Dubai putting on fashion shows and training models.

Ultimately I partnering with a photographer and, after much bureaucratic navigation, we set up the first modeling agency in the United Arab Emirates. For the next five years, this was my life, juggling motherhood and work – both of which I loved. However, when I became pregnant with baby number two things did not go as smoothly as they had with my first pregnancy and at one point, in the middle of a big event, I was confined to bed.

So, what did I do? I ran it from my duvet!

All Change

Soon after our son was born, I realised that juggling an infant, a six-year-old (with a healthy social life!) and my role as an event manager was not a healthy way to live. After some thought, I chose to leave the business. I wanted – needed – to do something that would fit around my family life. Why not be a stay at home mum you might ask? I did, for a while, but I had never not worked, and I needed the mental stimulation. So, I went back to school and studied to become a teacher!

For the next twenty years, I worked as an early years educator, starting as a teaching assistant and eventually becoming a setting manager, then I moved on to open new settings and working with local authorities and parents to ensure their children were receiving the best possible experiences they could. The great thing was, that because I had been adapting my life all the way along, unwittingly, of course, I was able to manage finances, set budgets and targets, organise and run the events, train team and do so much more.

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My Lightbulb Moment

As time went by I noticed that people – parents, teachers, friends – would regularly seek my advice and ask me for guidance. I realised that this was a skill I had that was untapped, and so I decided it was time to do something about tapping into it. So I trained as a life coach! I loved it and made the decision to start my own business and I was in the process of transitioning from being employed to opening up on my own when WHAM! I got sick…

Fighting For My Life

For six months I became sicker and sicker and no one could figure out what was wrong. Just before it all started, I had undergone surgery to my back; a microdiscectomy to fix a severely herniated lumbar disc that left me unable to walk on many days and with searing pain all the time. What I did not know is that there was so much more happening within my body.

After the surgery I spent ten days at home recovering before I started physiotherapy. Three sessions in and I physically and emotionally collapsed, I just couldn’t do it. The surgeon was baffled as my wound had healed beautifully and all the signs pointed to a fully successful procedure. He recommended I visit my doctor. By now I was vomiting multiple times a day, losing weight at a ridiculous rate and becoming very weak.

For the next three months, I was in and out of the hospital and they couldn’t find out what was wrong, admitting me for overnight stays to rehydrate me and balance my minerals (I had no idea what that meant at the time) but nothing was changing. Eventually, they found I had a tumour in my abdomen and so after much deliberation, it was removed. Surgery number two!

The tumour was fairly sizeable; however, it was calcified and had been there for a long time so it was doubtful that this was the cause of what was happening. I stayed in the hospital for a couple of days and, even though I was still vomiting constantly and so thin that I had trouble walking, I was discharged with some pills to stop the nausea. They had zero effect on my condition!

By now I had lost just over 30kg in weight and I was in a constant state of delirium. I was told by one of the doctors in the hospital that I should possibly she a psychiatrist as it must be in my head! I knew I was dying by this time, but I was so delirious that it was hard to do anything about it. Somehow, I summoned up enough clarity to email my brother in England and arrange for him to come to Dubai to fetch me so that I could get treatment in England. I do not remember much about him coming or the journey back to England.

In fact, even now people tell me things that happened during those few short days that I have no recollection of, people who were, apparently, in my house to say their goodbyes to me and wish me well.

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The Road to Recovery

Once I was back in England things moved really fast. My mum had already arranged for their doctor to see me as soon as I arrived and I recall this lovely man talking to me, ordering that a nurse would come and take blood so that tests could be done. Even before the nurse arrived, he said that it was clearly a thyroid problem.

The next day blood was drawn but the doctor was not prepared to wait any longer and I was whisked off to hospital by ambulance. I was placed in ICU where I stayed for several days, during which time I suffered a massive thyroid storm that almost killed me. I hallucinated, ripped out cannulas, was convinced that everyone was trying to kill me – I was not a model patient!

Of course, I am too stubborn to die, so, against the odds here I am.

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My Turning Point

Several months later, I returned to Dubai and started a part-time job as that was all I could manage. One day, an email arrived, offering me a place on a wellness coaching course. Naturally, I jumped at the chance and did the course. I loved it! Here was my chance to help people who had, like me, experienced events in their lives that changed them so profoundly that they could not continue along the same path.

I also had the opportunity to help their families and friends because I knew how hard it was to let people know that a massive change had happened and that things would never be the same. A lot more adapting had to happen in my life as I lost friends who just ‘didn’t get it’ and found new friends with different priorities and interests, and I was able to help others on their journey into the unknown. And so, my wellness coaching business was born.

Two years later, and after much deliberation, I decided that it was time for me to leave Dubai; a city I had spent 27 years in, raising a family, going through a divorce, being part of the incredible growth that took place there. My time had come to an end and I moved back to England. The move brought me closer to family, which I love. Fitting in though – that is a different story.

I feel like I am an alien here. I speak the language and I am British by birth but to all other intents, I really am an outsider. Every day I am thankful that I have thick skin and a sense of humour as this has helped my adapt and integrate. So here I am, once again ready to do something new.

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Over the years, in my never-ending quest for knowledge, and to enable me to better help others, I have trained and studied many healing and therapeutic modalities – Reiki, Aromatherapy, Mindfulness, Meditation, Nutrition, Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing Therapy, Kinesiology, Solution Focused Brief Therapy…. These are just some of my favourites, and they have all become integrated into the work I do.

So you see, all of the experiences and skills I have gained from as far back to my school days have placed me in the perfect place to offer.