Chris van Gun

Hey, I'm Chris. I am a houseman & father of partly adult children. I live in Germany.

I'm a fan of tech, music and movies. I am also interested in games, DIYs, MMA...

Looking back on my life so far, you might think that it is like a path of suffering that is never going to end, because I have been seriously ill for half my life. Despite all this, I have experienced a lot of positive things throughout & lived very intensively. I looked into different abysses wherever I was but also experienced a lot of fun and joy. I have met many people who have had a lasting impact on & enriched my life. THANKYOU for that.

I have been living and struggling with my pain since 2001. With 24 hours of chronic pain, 365 days a year since 2007. After some surgeries on my spine the pain finally burned itself into my brain & intensified extremely.

Since my last surgery, I have stiffened my spine with a massive steel reinforcement over several vertebrae. At first it was very unusual. Nowadays it is a part of me, which causes me big problems but ok. At least all of this made me hard as steel, if you look at it humorously,

into a kind of Terminator ;-).

As far as chronic pain is concerned, I follow the Shaolin theory.

You learn to control the pain when you expose yourself to it again & again, this works slowly at first & is incredibly difficult, but after a few months it gets much better & it keeps on going uphill, like a stock price.

The pain has remained with me, but it is becoming more bearable & controllable. And yes, I tried everything I was told & almost nothing helped. After almost twenty years of pain as a chronically ill person, one thing is certain, my way works for me & I am still alive. Which, frankly, is an achievement with my illness. An achievement that will never be comprehensible to anyone who is not affected themselves, but no matter what, the most important thing is that you are aware of it. Become your own pain specialist & change your mindset, become & act combatively. Last but not least, the most important thing: yeah, I am, despite sometimes inhuman pain, very happy, satisfied & above all grateful every day. Although I know that my life will be very bad & painful until the end, I turn it into something better & stay positive. I've done a lot in my life, but nothing has ever challenged me as much as this disease. Now, by the way, I am a happy full-time sufferer, a houseman, a father & still somehow me.