Together with his wife Petra (54) Peter Brune (60) takes a walk through the village of Scharwoude. For most people this is the most normal thing in the world, but due to a brainstem infarction, the resident of Scharwoude was only able to go out on the street in a wheelchair. Until they found a special balance bike.
Back to October 4, 2009. The couple goes to bed at night when things go wrong. Peter is suddenly in pain, and talks with a double tongue. He is rushed to hospital. The diagnosis is: brainstem infarction. And it’s even close to whether he will make it.
After a long convalescence, he can go home again, but will no longer fully recover. For example, he can no longer work or do things at home. Because of the infarction, he has balance problems, he can only see well with one eye, and he can only use one arm. His speech is also affected.
And the fact that he can walk again thanks to a balance bike makes Peter very happy. “It’s wonderful. People don’t talk about me anymore.” Because that meant he always had to sit in a wheelchair when they went outside. And then he often noticed that people were not speaking to him, but to the person who is standing at eye level: the person pushing the wheelchair.
They had been looking for a tool for years, but without success. “A walker is not stable enough, for example, because Peter can only use one arm. We also looked at another balance bike, but it only had two wheels,” explains his wife Petra.
‘It’s special to walk side by side again’
And then by chance she comes across the balance bike at the end of last year. They test it and are immediately enthusiastic. “We could walk side by side again after thirteen years. I thought that was quite emotional the first time,” says Petra.
The balance bike is expensive, 2,400 euros, so they try to reimburse it through the insurance. But that turns out to be extremely complicated, explains Petra. “First, after four weeks, I received a letter with additional questions. I then answered them and sent them documents. And then after six weeks we received another letter. They had more questions, but questions that I had already answered were also answered. times.”
Crowdfunding
They are done with it, so they decide to try it through a crowdfunding. “I put it on Facebook in the morning, and had to take it down again before dinner because otherwise we would receive too much money. Really overwhelming,” Petra says happily. “Very special, friends of our daughters also donated money themselves,” adds Peter.
And so they can walk together again, although Peter still has to work on his condition. “We would like to walk through the city center in Hoorn again, or go to a terrace here to drink a cup of coffee,” says Petra.
Balance bike should be better known
“It is a pity that we only now found out about the existence of this balance bike.” And that is also the reason they seek publicity. Petra: “It is still very unknown, and that has to change. People with unilateral paralysis can also use this. I wish everyone that very happy feeling that we always have when we walk around.”