Finally, after two years of raising money, Esther Kock-Artz can drive a car all by herself again. De Cuijkse, who no longer has his lower legs and fingers due to blood poisoning, was able to buy his own wheelchair bus with the help of crowdfunding. And that puts an end to eternal taxi rounds, hassle with the wheelchair on the train and being largely dependent on others. So happy like a child, tears rolled down her cheeks when she sat behind a wheel for the first time. “It’s incomprehensible that people want to do this for me.”
“If there’s one thing I hate, it’s being dependent,” Esther says firmly. The past seven years have been extremely difficult for her. In 2016, her life was turned upside down after she contracted a bacteria in her body. It turned out to be pneumococcal bacteria, which resulted in blood poisoning. As a result, she lost her fingers and lower legs and her kidneys stopped working.
But Esther did not want to give up. So if your husband doesn’t have a driver’s license and taxis don’t bother you, you have to look for a wheelchair bus yourself.
“I actually cried because I rode in a car.”
“I had five goals in my life and driving independently was one of them,” she continues. Two good acquaintances became aware of this, but also knew how expensive a wheelchair bus is. So they came up with the idea of a crowdfunding campaign. “They are real treasures. They started it and helped us so much.” In the meantime, Esther was able to start taking lessons herself in a modified car. “Then I really cried because I had driven a car again.”
Once the campaign was well and truly set up, the sharing could begin. It spread throughout Cuijk and was frequently shared by friends and family. “Mom is a cashier, so everyone knows her,” son Remy laughs proudly. “That action also showed what effect it had on our village. Something like that restores your faith in humanity. Of the 30,000 euros of the target amount, 25,000 was raised through crowdfunding.”
“It’s incomprehensible that people want to do that for me,” Esther says with disbelief in her voice. “It does you so much good when you see that people can spare something like that for you. Even students, who don’t even have that much of an income themselves.”
“Just not through the McDrive, because it won’t fit through there.”
As a result, not only does Esther have some of her freedom back, but it is also like a warm blanket for her family. “It’s a night and day difference,” says Remy. “At first her world was no bigger than the battery of the wheelchair, now she can drive herself. And then she can also visit me in Tilburg, without having to depend on the taxi or the train.”
And there are now a lot of destinations planned. “Just visiting my mother and brother, my father and my sister-in-law,” Esther summarizes. But she has already had her first tour, together with daughter Renske. “To McDonalds,” she laughs. “Just not through the McDrive, because it won’t fit through there.”