Jaun-André Gouws

Jaun-André Gouws was born in Pietersburg, close to the northern border between South Africa and Zimbabwe. Although The town was declared a city in my early teens, but somehow I alw...view moreJaun-André Gouws was born in Pietersburg, close to the northern border between South Africa and Zimbabwe. Although The town was declared a city in my early teens, but somehow I always saw it as a small town. I spend most of my free time in the bush on local game farms. Seeing antelope, and the Big 5 was a normal occurrence. You never realize how fortunate you are until you grow up, travel and share your upbringing stories with others. My 1st degree I majored in Psychology, Criminology and African Languages and completed my Honors degree in Psychology through the University of South Africa. Everybody in the city knew my dad. He was the one everybody would invite to events, to get things started. The guy where everyone would go to better understanding of a topic. I never in his lifetime ever heard a bad word, about anyone, utter his mouth and a constant smile on his face gave him the nickname 'Peter Pan'. Jack of all trades and master of all! His father passed away, just after he left school and being the only son, with five sisters, studying further wasn't an option. He decided to rather work and pay for his sisters to get a further education. He has always been my idol and inspiration in everything I did, and also the reason I started doing research and writing about this mysterious 'killing machine'; we call Cancer. He was diagnosed in 2002 with Leukemia and through grace he was borrowed to us for another 7 years. After the diagnoses, I made a promise to myself to do whatever I can, to help make people aware of this disease and how we can fight it, i.e. by just making small changes in our lives. If I can prevent one person from getting diagnosed with this dreadful disease, I know my dad will be proud....view less