FEBRUARY 1972: Wood is falling off our trailer while driving. I cross the road to pick it up and I am hit by a car in the face, miraculously bruising only my lips.

MARCH 1976: Climbing a rock during a scout event, I fall and survive both arms injured.

JANUARY 1981: I meet a young woman for the second time and know within 15 minutes that I want to marry her. We have been together for 30 years now.

AUGUST 1984: Climbing in the Dachstein mountains, Austria, I make a fall. My brother in law stops my fall by holding the rope. I hang above a void of 150 metres under my feet and start a new life.

AUGUST 1989: My wife gives birth to our first daughter of four. The nursing personel leaves the room and the newborn baby watches us silently for one hour.

JULY 1992: I do hernia surgery on a horse in the Gambia. At the first cut, I am hit by a hoof and again only my lips are bruised. Ten centimeters closer, my head would have been smashed.

AUGUST 1996: I drive a car with three passengers in Côte d'Ivoire and fall asleep. The passenger next to me wakes me up seconds before crashing into a slow driving truck. I can avoid a crash, stop the car and do no more driving for the day.

DECEMBER 1997: I obtain a grant funding my salary for three years and allowing me to return to my home country.

MAY 2004: I am accepted as an assistant professor by the Faculty of Science.

JULY 2007: My father dies of old age. I still miss him terribly every day.