Know Your Money with Bronwyn Waner and Craig Finch
Know Your Money with Bronwyn Waner and Craig Finch
119. When Life Changes in the Blink of an Eye
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Kalvin van Baalen shares his remarkable survival story after a devastating paragliding accident where he hit power lines, caught fire, and subsequently spent 413 days in ICU with 42 operations. His journey from being completely burned and given little chance of survival to becoming a competitive disabled golfer demonstrates extraordinary resilience and the power of an optimistic mindset.
• Kalvin was a passionate paraglider who dreamed of pursuing it professionally before his accident at age 21
• After hitting power lines during a competition, he suffered severe burns and spent over a year in intensive care
• His medical aid initially suggested doctors should "palliate" him as a non-recoverable case
• Despite spending two years in a wheelchair, he maintained a "delusionally optimistic" attitude throughout recovery
• Kalvin now plays competitive golf for Disabled Golfer South Africa, unable to qualify for Deaf Golf by just a few decibels
• His medical expenses totalled approximately R22 million, potentially the highest individual medical aid claim in South Africa
• Government hospitals in South Africa typically palliate patients with over 50% burns due to resource constraints
• Kalvin's advice: life can change in an instant, so pursue what matters and consider financial protection early
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Introduction to Calvin van Baalen
Speaker 1Hello everybody, welcome to Know your Money. I'm Bronwyn Wehner.
Speaker 2And I'm Craig Finch and we are from Growth Financial Planning. We hope you enjoy our podcast Today in the studio. We welcome Kelvin van Baalen. Very happy to have you with us, calvin. I met Calvin at our golf club. He's an ambassador at CCJ and he's got a very unique story to tell us quite a shocking story when you hear it. So, calvin, you can maybe tell us what happened to you. And you play golf for Disabled Golfer South Africa and you're a great golfer. You beat us able golfers every time we play you. I can't believe you hit the ball so far and so accurately. But you have a story to tell us which happened to you a few years ago and you survived a very bad accident. So what was happening at the time when you had this accident? What were you doing? And just give us a bit of a background.
Speaker 3Yeah, thanks, craig. It's nice to be here and to meet all you people. Yeah, so basically what happened, craig knows, I think you know most of the story, but I was 21 at the time studying I was third year law. I never really actually wanted to do law. I was kind of keeping my, my mom, happy living under a house. She wouldn't let me just coast along. And uh, yeah, I did paragliding. So I don't know, do you guys know what paragliding is?
Speaker 1I know what it is, but I do you know yeah, you maybe just want to explain because maybe some people don't know what paragliding is yeah, okay.
Speaker 3So paragliding, you've got that big like parachute sort of wing, but it's not designed to go down, it's more designed to glide. So you take off and you get a thermal which is rising air and you go up and we can. My longest flight is like seven hours sure in the air. Yeah, I used to fly hundreds of kilometers. I've my furthest flights like 300 kilometers wow yeah, so that was my like complete passion.
Speaker 3I was absolutely obsessed with with paragliding. I would actually used to skip school, go to hearties fly in the day like, yeah, that was.
Speaker 4Who wouldn't want to be a bird for seven hours?
Speaker 3yeah yeah, that's literally what it was and and it's like a test in the air. It's a challenge. Some days you land at the bottom and you fly for two minutes, and some days you fly and land on the other side of the Rostenberg.
Speaker 2No wonder your mother wanted you to be a lawyer.
Speaker 4Yeah, it just depends on the air currents and what's going on.
Speaker 3Yeah, so, like summer's usually better, obviously it's warmer you get the clouds. Actually, a cloud is like rising air which then condenses, so you go into the cloud and usually you get a thermal. So, yeah, so when you landed.
Speaker 1Where did you? How did you get home?
Speaker 3you would hope someone had a nice wife who was following you along and fetched you, or we would fetch each other, so yeah, so that was like I actually wanted to do that almost professionally, and I don't know if you know in cape town, where they fly off signal hill yeah, that's what I wanted to do.
The Life-Changing Power Line Accident
Speaker 3I have seen yeah, I wanted to do that and, in our winter, go overseas and go fly in france and turkey, and that's what I wanted to do, and that came to a very abrupt halt in 2018. I was paragliding in a competition at Barberton and I'd never actually everyone that paraglides has broken an ankle or, you know, twisted a wrist on landing. I had never done anything and I was more comfortable paragliding than walking. And I took off and it was a normal day and as I was coming into land, I didn't see a power line and I hit the power line. I remember everything. I remember getting shocked. It was sort of like and I'd never blacked out before so my whole world, just like, went into a spin and I passed out. And then I woke up on the ground and I was still in my harness, like this, and all my straps were done and I was completely on fire. So I had flames like this, big, like all over my body and I had to unclip myself, roll away. It's amazing how your survival instinct kicks in, I mean.
Speaker 1Stop drop and roll.
Speaker 3Yeah, literally that. And now they say you can run like 50 k's an hour. If you need to run 50 k's an hour, I fully believe that now. And yeah, I was there in a random field, I was rolled away and luckily it was a competition, so they saw me told the par in a random field, I was rolled away and luckily it was a competition, so they saw me told the paramedics to come and they arrived about 15 minutes later.
Speaker 3I was lucky that my orthopedic surgeon was actually also a paraglider pilot and he was there on the scene so he sort of knew what was going on. And obviously, speaking to him now afterwards he thought I was like history. I mean my skin was white. So human skin and pig skin is quite similar and when you do a roast pork it goes white. So that's how cooked I was. And then I got loaded up into the ambulance and my dad was also on the ambulance and my dad was also on the scene because my dad used to do paragliding. So we have quite a funny joke that when he helped with the stretcher he actually dropped me on my head. Oh shit, because he was in shock, obviously shaking and everything so like I've just got through this thing.
413 Days in ICU
Speaker 3And then, and yeah, I loaded up into the ambulance and the next 413 days of my life was basically a blur 413 days did they take you? That's how long I spent in icu. In icu, yeah, to millparks straight away. Yeah, they chopped me straight to Mill Park and then, yeah, icu was complete. I didn't know my birthday. I thought my brother was my child.
Speaker 2You were in a coma for a while. What you were in a coma for quite a while.
Speaker 4Yeah, I think I was in a coma for six weeks at the start. Did they induce that coma though?
Speaker 3Yeah, and then during the course of my stay, like with burns, they've got to do skin grafts, right? So, like when they grafted my bum. I had to. I couldn't like lie on it. Yes, so they had to put me on my stomach.
Speaker 1Sure.
Speaker 3So then they had to induce another coma for a week so that that could heal, and it was just like multiple. I think I was induced maybe like three or four times, and then this is from the ventilator. So I had this in for 350 days also like they take it out, then I'd almost die. Then they put it back in. Then they take it out, and they put it back in.
Speaker 4So yeah, and what were you over a year of your life?
Speaker 3over a year of your life yeah, a year of my life and I didn't know like anything it was all of those meds. It just makes it a blur yeah, a complete blur. I mean yeah, and then after that yeah when you were like a little bit um compass man yes what were you thinking or feeling, or what did you think? I must have been delusional, because I actually thought, like it's not that bad.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 3I mean, even when I had the accident, I promise you, I was looking at my paraglider that was up in flames and I was like shit, I've got to replace this stuff now. And like how am I going to do that? And like I'll be flying in the next month, like once I've replaced it.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 3I didn't know how bad it was, but I think being like that contributed to my recovery.
Speaker 1Yeah, because.
Speaker 3I'd never for a day thought I'm going to die or I'm not going to walk, or you were optimistic the whole time yeah delusionally optimistic. I just said, oh, I'll be okay, I'm going to walk.
Speaker 1And where do you think that mindset came from? Like have you always been optimistic? Were you?
Speaker 3brought up that way.
Speaker 1How did you?
Speaker 3Yeah, I think I have been optimistic and I think I'm very competitive. I don't know if, like maybe seeing, maybe I saw it as a challenge, like to get my life back in a way.
Speaker 2But what I know of you and all the interactions, you are very positive, incredibly positive about everything. It's just amazing and, like an ambassador for the club, they love you because you've got such a positive outlook to everybody you meet, which is an amazing attribute that you've always had, I think.
Speaker 3I think a lot of people are. You know, until you're in that moment, you don't know, like, what you're capable of and what lengths you're willing to go to. I mean, I wasn't the type of person who would be happy living in a wheelchair playing video games. I was always like I want to go out, I want to do this, I want to play golf, et cetera. So I was always like I want to go out.
Speaker 3I want to do this. I want to play golf, etc. For me it was quite simple. It might sound bad, but it was either get better or kill myself.
Speaker 1There was no in-between.
Speaker 2And you had a special relationship with the doctor that helped you. Vicky was it.
The Power of an Optimistic Mindset
Speaker 3Yeah, I think I've got a special relationship with all my doctors. When someone saves your life, you can never really repay them. So my orthopedic surgeon used to paraglide with me. So him and I had gone on flyways together, shared thermals, together, everything. And then my trauma surgeon she saved me and then my plastic surgeon yeah, those three.
Speaker 1Sure, that's amazing, I think.
Speaker 3I've 40, 42 operations or something. I mean, I hope one day I'm older than the amount of operations. I'm currently 27 with 42 ops or something, wow, uh. So maybe at 50 ish you'll feel like you're at level four and when did you start playing?
Speaker 3golf. So I played golf before but sort of just I played a bit for school and then, like we got on holiday play a bit there. But now that I can't really run, like I used to play a lot of squash. I was very fit. That actually helped with my survival. If I wasn't as fit as I was I would have died. Um, but I can't do squash and yeah, golfer sort of was like okay, I can do this and obviously, being competitive, it's like I can do this well enough to compete and it'll satisfy your computer.
Speaker 3Otherwise I would have had to take up chess, and I think I would have been pretty useless.
Speaker 2But you also said to me you could have qualified for the Deaf Golf and gone to the Olympics.
Speaker 3Yeah, that was just the other day. So there's a criteria and I just basically am not quite deaf enough.
Speaker 4How much of your hearing?
Speaker 3have you lost? I don't know how it works, but this left ear was 55, and this ear is 50. So I think if you have perfect hearing, it's zero right.
Speaker 4So I'm 55 worse than 50 words. Have you learned to read lips a bit then?
Medical Care and Challenges
Speaker 3uh either that or just ask people to speak loud, yeah, yeah, they wanted me to get a hearing aid, but I just said it's sort of, if someone's speaking directly to me, it's not really a problem yeah but if they're behind me, if my girlfriend tries to speak at night where there's no light, then it's like… I don't know what to say yeah you can kind of fill in the blanks when someone's talking, you pick up on it yeah.
Speaker 2So golf doesn't qualify for the Paralympics yet.
Speaker 3No, disabled, like physical limitations, not yet, not yet. Okay, yeah, there's just too many categories, I think. How would I compare against one leg? Then they need to have below knee, above knee, there's so many different things.
Speaker 2Well, I think it's unfair that you compete against me in your current state anyway, because you always take the odd money that you play for. So yeah, and.
Speaker 1Calvin, when it came to all those surgeons and the medical aid, what plan were you on? Were you on your parents' medical aid?
Speaker 3Yeah, so I was on my mom's medical aid, thank goodness Otherwise also. So in South Africa, if you have, I think, more than 50% burns, they palliate you if you go to a government hospital, so they just let you die.
Speaker 3Yeah, yeah because you're going to use too many state resources and they just let you die. So thank goodness for that and I think I was on quite a good plan not the top, but like a reasonable plan and they actually I'm on medical aid, so not really well known, but they actually sent my trauma surgeon an email saying that I'm a non-recoverable case and they would like her to kill me, palliate me, yeah.
Speaker 1And she wrote that Was this at the?
Speaker 3beginning of yeah, this was right at the beginning of yeah, it was right at the beginning. Like first week, they said like why is she trying to save me? Really?
Speaker 1yeah, yeah, that's what they said and do you know if you had gap cover?
Speaker 3no, I don't think we had gap cover, but I'm not completely clued up with the regulations, but I think they have to pay for everything in ICU. So I think my, I think I've got the highest. They said I've got the highest individual medical aid bill in the whole country. It's sitting at like 22 million or something. Wow, yeah, that's what they. And then people come and they say oh, your medical aid pay, they must have been great. And I'm like no, they have to pay. If you read all those Ts and Cs, you don't take medical aid. So they can decide if they want to pay, decide if you live or die. Yeah, they have to pay and decide if you live or die.
Speaker 3Yeah, they have to pay it. Then, with the stuff after ICU, that's when they became ridiculous. They wanted me to go to rehab for a week, for one week. I couldn't, literally I couldn't do anything.
Speaker 4I couldn't even how long has it taken you with rehab to get to where you are now? Are you still doing rehab?
Finding Purpose Through Golf
Speaker 3I'm always in a constant state of rehab. Yeah, yeah, but I'd say three years to get to like a walking where I could play a golf, sort of get around the shops.
Speaker 4You could live again.
Speaker 3Yeah, I spent two years in a wheelchair, so yeah. And then stuff like rehabs they didn't want to pay for even physio. I mean, I think they were ridiculous because they could have used me as such a good advert. Yeah, yeah, they could have had the highest medical aid, like we provide the best, yes. And then they didn't it sets you up.
Speaker 3Yeah, they wouldn't they wouldn't pay for out of rehab physio and they wouldn't pay for, like at a point I was looking at a prosthetic leg. They wouldn't like even entertain that idea. Are you still with them now? Yeah, I think I sort of have to be with them, I mean, I don't see another medical aid taking me on. Yeah, I mean it's actually a good question because my girlfriend asked me about it like literally last night. She said what if I go on to her medical aid? She says discovery, it'll be easy.
Speaker 1And I'm like thank you. A medical aid can't decline you, but they can impose waiting periods and.
Speaker 4I think that would be scary. Is that a legislation thing?
Speaker 1Yeah, you can't deny anyone medical aid. You can have a 12 or three month waiting period for any existing conditions?
Speaker 4And just to understand, given that you may still let's say it was a year ago, two years ago, that you were trying to change medical aids or whatever, If he had obviously an existing condition, would they do the waiting periods or would his monthly membership fee be more?
Speaker 2No, no waiting periods.
Speaker 1Waiting periods, so you only get a…. Late joiner penalty no waiting period, waiting period, so you only get a.
Speaker 2Late joiner penalty.
Speaker 1Okay, go yeah.
Speaker 2So late joiner penalty after 35 years old, I think. So you avoid that because of your age as well, and you've been on a medical aid as well all the way through. So there's no late joiner, you're already on. Right, but you can impose the waiting period a three-month general waiting period or a one-year specific. I mean, they'd have to exclude almost everything for you, yeah.
Speaker 3Except flu. Maybe he actually had a backup. My dad had a backup and I think he didn't disclose that he went to a doctor like three months before he changed medical aids.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 3And they tried to pin that whole thing that he didn't disclose everything.
Speaker 4I think, unfortunately, with insurance in general medical aid being medical insurance you will always get some companies with some people working there who are trying to find ways to get out of paying, aren't you?
Speaker 2I don't know. I suppose they look at it and go. We didn't expect a 20 million rand claim.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2Especially a young, healthy person. We didn't expect a 20 million rand claim. Yeah, especially a young, healthy person. We didn't want to have any claim. But what happened to your gym? You didn't go to the gym in that year.
Financial Lessons and Life Advice
Speaker 3I went to the gym like five, even more, times a week. I knew everyone at the gym by name, and then one day I just stopped coming to the gym, obviously, and you would think that some alarm bells would start ringing after maybe a week or a month or something. And they just kept billing my account into the ground and at that stage I think I had like three grand in my account and after 14 months that was gone. And they kept billing my account and the debit orders kept popping. So when I came out of hospital I was in like a thousand rad arrears with my card because of, and then, um, I approached them and they didn't want to hear any of it.
Speaker 1they just said not our problem, sorry, yeah so I think, calvin, if you were 21 again, what would you do differently? Or what advice do you have for young students who are, you know, from a financial perspective, if you could do it differently, what would you do?
Speaker 4I'd tell them not to paraglide into it, I'd say like avoid the power line, open your eyes.
Speaker 3I think quite a lot of people are taking things like a bit seriously. I don't know if that's good advice, but I think, going through everything, I've realized that your whole life can change in the blink of an eye. And you know, there were a lot of things that I almost didn't get to do in my life because I almost died. So I'd say you've literally only got one life, and get out there, take the risk, do something that scares you, get out of your comfort zone and financially probably not the right person to ask but again like, yeah, go on that holiday, have fun, fun. You're young, you don't have kids, you don't actually have responsibilities at 21.
Speaker 1And if you could, would you have taken out a policy, or do you think you wouldn't have?
Speaker 3Yeah, but that's like a super easy question. I would have taken out the biggest disability policy in the world.
Speaker 1That's in hindsight.
Speaker 3Yes.
Speaker 1But at that moment. You know what we're trying to do on this podcast is to help encourage people to know that anything can happen and there are things in this financial industry that can help prevent those kind of things happening in life. And often people are exactly like at that age. Every 21-year-old doesn't think that that's going to happen to them.
Speaker 3I don't think so. I think I'm also actually studying finance, so I'm starting my CFA next year and I like to think I'm quite a logical person and I would say no, I was 21. I was fit, healthy, et cetera, et cetera. And even having a medical aid, I don't feel like in the long run. What are the stats with medical aids paying off? Do you pay more than you receive or do you receive more than you pay?
Speaker 4Obviously, I received my investment paid off in a better way.
Speaker 3But I think most people it's the other way around.
Speaker 1But it's that. What if?
Speaker 2and that's why you have it, there are plans out there that you can cover yourself, even as a student, for loss of income, so the year you were in hospital. There are companies that would have covered a monthly amount which would have helped your parents as well as well also in the future as well circumstance, it is good that you had medical aid.
Speaker 4Like I'm not the biggest fan of the way it all works, I'm really not yeah, I think, had the choice been between a government hospital in that situation where you said they'd choose to go, paleo yeah or the fact that you're still sitting here and playing golf with Craig. Yeah, having met Craig clearly worked, but yeah.
Closing Thoughts
Speaker 1And the thing is, the more people on those plans, the more those companies can build up those reserves for those people that need it yeah. For that 20 million Rand that needed to go to you. Yes, I might be paying in it and not using it, but what if? And that's why they have that pool and that's how it works.
Speaker 4Yeah.
Speaker 1Thank you so much for coming. We really appreciate having you here and for you to share your story with us.
Speaker 2Thanks, Calvin. See you on the golf course soon, Awesome Vinci, Thank you, Thank you. Thank you for listening. If you have enjoyed this podcast, would like to subscribe. Thank you for listening. If you have enjoyed this podcast and would like to subscribe, please visit our website wwwgrowthfpcoza. The information we have provided in this podcast is our personal opinion. For more detailed information no-transcript.