Imagine what it would feel like if you were told you would never
walk again, that nothing would ever be the same…
This is what happened to me on the 28th of January 2002. After
reaching sixth place in the most demanding triathlon in the world, the Ironman
in Hawaii, I had only one goal in mind: making it to the winners’
stand in 2002. A dramatic fall during training decided otherwise for me.
The fall left me paralysed from the chest down.
At no point in time did I want to feel like a victim of what had happened
to me. My desire to fight my way back never left me and just eight months
after my accident on October 19th, I was on the starting line of my own
championships in Hawaii. This time as a wheelchair athlete.
After this, I made a decision that I would not look on from the sidelines
and also that I would try to turn my fate and that of so many others into
something positive. This is why I am putting all my energy at the moment
into raising funds, through my foundation “To Walk Again”,
for research into and development of therapies for spinal chord injuries.
Thanks to the new therapies hundreds of thousands of other people will
be able to get out of their wheelchairs and walk again.
Please give your support to “To Walk Again”. You can find
more information on the foundation and how you can help me and my colleagues
on our website: www.towalkagain.org.
With many thanks
Marc Herremans
| 
