I was born in  Lower Hutt City in June 1960. My Father was employed at General Motors in Petone and worked there up until his retirement after 25 years of service with them. My Mother had her hands full with raising 7 children of which I was the youngest and a bit of an after thought being born 10 & 1/2 years after my next sibling who was my sister Judy. I have 3 brothers and 3 sisters but there are only 4 of us left alive. Two of my sisters, Judy & Josie succumbed to cancer and my brother Reg died from complications associated with Diabetes.

Diabetes is rife throughout my family. My Father was diagnosed with it at the age of 70, my sister Josie and brothers Bruce and Reg also suffer from it. I was diagnosed with it in 1995 and started out on 1/2 a tablet per day and over the years this has increased to where I now take 3 tablets plus 2 shots of insulin per day. I was able to come off the insulin for about 3 years due to losing a massive 37 & 1/2 kilograms of weight, but it has gradually got back to me taking the insulin over the last 2 years. I have managed to remain at the same weight for about 3 years now which has to be good for me in a way.

I have a total of 5 children and 4 grandchildren as well as another 2 grandchildren on the way. One is due in March and the other in June of 2010. My 3 oldest children are from my first marriage and I have a daughter with my current wife Anne who also has a son from a previous partner who I always count as being my own as I am the only Father that he has known and he has called me Dad (amongst other names) from an early age.

Anne also comes from a large family. She has a total of seven siblings, five sisters and two brothers. Anne works in the homecare industry providing care and help to the disabled and elderly and has done so for the past 11 years. As part of the terms of her employment Anne has sat and passed the NZQA unit standards for the National Certificate in Community Support Services and is a Level-2 caregiver.

Anne first started in the caregiving industry when we lived in Palmerston North 11 years ago. When we moved to our current residence in Dannevirke in June 2008 she resigned from the company that she was working for and took a break for two months before signing on with the same company in Dannevirke in August of that year. Because of the nature of her job, and now that we are living in a rural environment, Anne quite often travels out of town to various jobs which can take up quite a bit of time. Luckily for her, the company now pays a travel allowance once a fortnight, this however was not the case for many years. A typical week can see in excess of 400 kilometres being run up on our vehicle of which 114 kilometres is a regular trip to Palmerston North to visit relatives, friends and to do shopping.