Meet the Author of West Coast Opinion, a Happy 50s Kid, who’s Glad to be Alive
Meet the author of West Coast Opinion, David H. Cottrell – aka, Dave.
Dave used to own a heavy equipment maintenance business, before contracting Chronic Lyme Disease from a tick bite. Lyme disease must be diagnosed and treated early and aggressively. If not, it makes life very difficult for anyone who has it. For Dave, it was a career ender.
Dave is the owner of many websites, including American English Translations. On that site, he offers accurate translations into native American English from most languages, as well as writing services of all kinds.
He also owns Classified Ad Land, the online newspaper, Wet Coast Daily, The Winning Affiliate, Lyme Clinics, The Lyme Files, DaveCottrell.com and, of course, this one, West Coast Opinion, a blog created specifically for his rants and opinions. As he says, you can always hit close if it bothers you! He has written on many, many topics almost his entire life, winning awards along the way.
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Home
Dave Cottrell lives in Gibsons, BC, but home will always be the wild mountains of the north, where he was born. He and his wife, Kathy have four adult children & ten grandchildren.
He loves the outdoors and has a passion for photography, especially in the outdoors. Dave, Kathy and their children have spent a lot of time camping, fishing, hiking and hunting in the nearby mountains.
If you happen to go hiking somewhere on the Sunshine Coast, you might just meet the author on one of the trails!
What does Dave do?
Dave was called to be the pastor of Sunshine Community Baptist Church, in 2007. This is a small, Independent Baptist church started nearly twenty-five years ago. Being involved in online business has helped to support him in this ministry.
He continues to write, translate and market online to supplement his income from the faithful folks at the church.
Status
Dave & Kathy Cottrell were married in 1978. A short time later, an older friend introduced them to their first experience with direct marketing. He was the fresh, but naive young face in the group who was quickly recruited to be the presenter for the group. Dave has built very large international organisations, and has also managed a large international online affiliate database.
Sickness forced Dave to drop out of all marketing activities for years, as undiagnosed, untreated and incorrectly treated Lyme disease took its toll. He is very thankful to God for His grace in sustaining them through this difficult time!
Dave and Kathy are also thankful to Dr. Ernie Murakami for diagnosing him, and to Dr. Eric Chan of Pannaturopathic in Steveston (Richmond, BC). Eric confirmed Dr. Murakami’s diagnosis and began to treat him with the antibiotics that brought him back from the brink.
More information on Lyme disease is available on Dave’s advocacy site at www.LymeClinics.com. It is treatable, but a cure for chronic or long term Lyme disease has not yet been found. The good news is that it’s possible to regain some of what was lost and to live a relatively active, normal life.
Heritage
Dave Cottrell is a North American. He was born in Canada, in a mission hospital in northern BC. His family tree includes Scottish, Welsh, French and depending on who you ask in the family, Ojibwa. Further back, there is a Jewish great-great-grandmother. A cousin of his dad’s told him his great-grandmother on his dad’s side was French and Ojibwa, and joked it was the French in her that inspired her to give Dave’s grandfather the middle name of Cuthbert. Cuthbert just doesn’t sound the same in English!
Some of Dave’s ancestors have lived in America for as long as it has been inhabited. Some more recent ones were born in Canada. Some were born in the United States. Some came directly from Europe to settle in Canada. Though he holds Canadian citizenship by birth, he is at home on both sides of the friendly international border between Canada and the USA.
An interesting development occurred in 2019. Dave and Kathy both had their DNA tested by 23andMe. It shows no close Ojibwa or Jewish connection. Instead it shows a much closer connection to mainly western and northern European ancestry. The Scottish is the strongest, with a major Viking influence from the far north.
But according to the most recent information on DNA testing, the tests are based a lot on probability, and may be as high as 50% inaccurate! More to come…
Dave is thankful for his dad, a warrior, survivor and a real man who knew how to treat others with kindness, while expecting much from himself. He passed on his attitude of “If something must be done, it must be done. No excuses.” That has been of great benefit, both during his career while raising a family, and in fighting the disease that continues to try to make him give up.
If you meet the author in person, you might find his interest in everything a bit overwhelming at first. He is not one to boast, talking about many things only because he finds them so interesting.
EDUCATION
- UBC
- Sir Sanford Fleming
- SOHK (School of Hard Knocks)
- Sunshine Coast Gospel Church
- Sunshine Community Baptist Church
WORK
- Writing
- Proofreading & Editing
- Translation
- Photography
- Affiliate Marketing