The first diagnosis is a spinal cord injury, with the doctor telling Menno that he will never walk again. “He told my mother that I could be very happy in a wheelchair. I said, go away, that will happen – to my parents, not to the doctor -, because I believed that one day I would use my legs again.” Later it turns out that the spinal cord injury is incomplete, which means that the nerves are not completely destroyed and recovery is possible.
Chances
The fact that the feeling in his legs is slowly but surely returning means that he is working extra hard to fully recover. “I also thought to myself: I am so lucky with the place where I live, with the financial possibilities that exist and the care that we have in the Netherlands; if anyone is going to recover, it is me. I have to seize everything, because there are people who do not get these opportunities. Those people also send me messages sometimes, from countries where things are much less well organised. We have it so good here.
Recovery
He is recovering – although he is certainly not back to his pre-accident physical state. “But I can feel it again when I stub my toe. That seems annoying, but it’s great when you see where I come from. The feeling in my feet is not yet optimal, but I can now walk with a walker and – if I find my balance – I can stand upright on my own. That is very nice for shaving and washing my hands. And I can turn over in bed without the help of my arms.”
In addition to his part-time job, Menno trains hard three times a week to make sure his muscles get stronger. “If my right gluteal muscle starts working again, I will eventually be able to walk again without a walker. In terms of recovery, I am now at 50%, but I will make sure that it becomes 90%.”
Comments
As long as the wheelchair – which he needs for longer distances – and the walker are still needed, you will certainly not find Menno only at home on the couch. When he is not coaching the UNO women's hockey team, he is in the pub with his friends, for example. "You do notice that, as soon as the brakes are off with people after a few drinks, comments are made.
Then someone will shout 'Hey, disabled person!' at me, or they will tap me on the back in the street and say 'Are you still walking?'. I can handle that if we are friends, but not if you are a complete stranger. Sometimes I can be quite quick-witted and say: 'At least my injury will heal, your personality will remain the same', haha.”
Back protectors
In addition to his busy schedule of work, physiotherapy and socializing, Menno wants to try to ensure that others will return home undamaged from a ski trip in the coming winters. That is why he designs a back protector, flies to China to finalize the designs and has been selling them online since this week. “It is so obvious to wear a helmet, but a back protector is not. It is my dream to get at least 10,000 winter sports enthusiasts safely on a ski holiday. Because if I had worn such a thing, the damage would probably have been smaller.”
He is also completely transparent about the costs. The amount you pay for a back protector from his brand Spines automatically includes a donation of €15 to accelerate research into curing spinal cord injuries. “If we sell those 10,000 back protectors, I can already donate €150,000 and hopefully there will be a way to cure it during my lifetime. In the meantime, I will make sure that everything is as good as it was before my accident.”
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