Who are you?
I’m Kjell Lövik, a bearded man of 68 years. I’m a father of three- now adult- children, living in Steinkjer beautifully located at the end of a fjord in Norway. As a trained journalist with a Master’s degree in Crisis Communication I worked for 17 years at NOK (Norwegian Television/Radio). As I love communication and the written word, I’m also the author of 18 books throughout the years- both within humour, fact and documentary. Nowadays I really enjoy retired life but can’t help still writing a book every now and then. I’m also passionate about my hobbies, playing a Viking in full regalia in local historic games, and go geocaching all over the world.
What is your story?
When I was 4 years old- back in 1958, I was out on a bicycle ride with my dad. Sitting behind him at the luggage carrier in a steep downhill I accidently got my foot into the wheel, and broke both of my ancle bones. In time this healed, but in a bad way, so my foot ended up pointing outwards and I kind of got used to that. At the age of 60 I was going on a long hike into the mountains. The trail was challenging and difficult and eventually I slipped and sprained my bad foot. It was rainy and I had no phone coverage, so I simply had to walk back for miles with my bad foot which was now bone-to-bone. Surgery was necessary and bolts were put into the foot, but the bolts broke, and nothing worked. After 4 years, 12 surgeries and lots of complications and pain, amputation was the only way out. After some time in a wheelchair and also getting diagnosed with Parkinson, I’m now up on prosthetics and able to get back to “normal” even if things I do always take a bit longer than before.
What does “Xtend Your life” mean to you?
I’m a curious person who loves exploring new things and to go places I’ve never been before. Best of all is to discover things that I didn’t even know existed. So” Xtend your life” really means the freedom of being able to do just that. I always try and look at things from the bright side, like for example, having a disability always gives you the best spot or other advantages, and if I do something a bit crazy, I can always blame my Parkinson :-).
Follow Kjell at https://www.instagram.com/lovikkjell/
