The life of Per Kampman (47) from Meppel came to a standstill three years ago when he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. Yesterday he started a journey of 1,500 kilometers, from Stockholm to Meppel, to raise money for the ParkinsonNL health fund.
The question remains how he will complete that expedition with his illness. “I can answer that in a week and a half. It will be a challenge physically, but also mentally. We will do everything we can to accomplish it.”
The disease for which he now cycles came into his life at the age of 44. “That’s young. And also very unexpected. Especially because it didn’t occur in the family at all, so you don’t think about it at all. But it was there all of a sudden.”
Although Kampman can still do a lot, his skills are crumbling little by little, he says. “It’s getting less and less.”
So he had to give up his work. The bike ride is therefore partly a symbolic farewell for Kampman. “I had a wonderful job that allowed me to travel a lot, especially in Scandinavia.”
He also visits some of the factories he worked for. “That’s a bit of a farewell. That will be a strange feeling, but also very nice. Because they have organized things and sympathize very much with them.”
Kampman trained a lot in the Netherlands to complete the tour. “We have also looked carefully at food and figured out where we can spend the night along the way, so that we have a good place to sleep. We also have to be a bit lucky that things go well.”
Before he has even traveled a kilometer, the counter already stands at around 18,500 euros. “That is actually a lot, much more than we expected and hoped. We thought we were quite ambitious with a target amount of 10,000 euros.”
Kampman has therefore adjusted his goal. If we reach 25,000 euros when I arrive in the Netherlands, that would be fantastic.”
