His own life story inspired him to help children fighting dread diseases
While travelling in the tropics Greg Bertish picked up an incurable tropical bacteria between 2001 and 2007 that was hard to diagnose.
He spent a total of 200 days in hospital fighting for his life and the bacteria attacked his heart valves on three separate occasions.
It’s a bit of a cliché but it does wake you up when you have a life threatening disease
— Greg Bertish, humanitarian and surfer
Listen to the full conversation below:
Greg survived against all odds and completely recovered. He now dedicates his time to inspiring hope in young children facing and recovering from dread diseases.
The nicest thing that came out of it is that I started working with the children hospital trust specifically at Red Cross because I can relate with them.
— Greg Bertish, humanitarian and surfer
They spend a lot of their time fighting these dread diseases like cancer; some of them have heart problems …
— Greg Bertish, humanitarian and surfer
I have a passion in my life and that is sailing and surfing and that got me out of hospital every time
— Greg Bertish, humanitarian and surfer
Now I am trying to find something for these poor kids for them to find passion and hopefully and hopefully a skill
— Greg Bertish, humanitarian and surfer
Greg Bertish plans to sail 200 km in total in a little boat he calls “dinghy” from Cape Hangklip across False Bay, around Cape Point to the Langebaan Lagoon on the West Coast. This is all in an effort to raise R200 000 for the Red Cross Children’s Hospital Trust.