Friends and family of the Amsterdam Beatrijs Bijl (28), who suffered serious brain injury after a collision on the Churchilllaan last November, participated in the Amsterdam Marathon today. It involved a team of sixty runners, which also raised tens of thousands of euros for the Brain Foundation.
Two weeks before the accident, Beatrijs ran the Amsterdam half marathon herself. “She wanted to this year too, but it’s not her fault it didn’t work out,” said her sister, Elizabeth, who reached the finish line today in two hours and three minutes. “And hopefully together next year.”
Family and friends had trained hard for the marathon. The goal was to raise 40,000 euros for the Brain Foundation. That was reached at the end of the afternoon. Then the counter stood at 43,575, a record number for the foundation. The money raised will be used to fund new research into Congenital Brain Injury (NAH).
Beatrijs is currently still recovering in the rehabilitation center in Woerden. Today she was back in Amsterdam for the second time after the accident. “Beatrijs is going to see a lot of people she hasn’t seen since the accident,” her sister said. A loaded day, full of emotions, for family and friends.