Karen de Bruin from Reek will not only run the Nijmegen Four Days Marches for herself on Tuesday, but also for all people who have the rare heart disease LMNA. Her husband also has the hereditary disease and ended up in the hospital three years ago.
“They were very unclear complaints,” Karen explained earlier this week while she walks through the woods to practice for the Four Days Marches. “The symptoms went from heart rhythm disorders of tired and big apnea at night.” After those three days it turned out that the heart of Karen’s man only functioned half.
After three weeks he was allowed to go home again. “With an ‘ICD’, such a box that keeps an eye on your heart and possibly gives a shock,” says Karen. “And since that time and after a long rehabilitation, he only works three days a week.” Now he has happily refurbished.
Several hikers participate in the initiative to walk for charity. Similarly Bernard Verwoert. “I am an emergency nurse myself. But I knew very little about LMNA. So I thought: it is sometimes time to give that a stage.”
“The Four Days Marches.”
They all run four times 50 kilometers from Tuesday. For many the first time, but Karen has participated before. “In 2012 for the first time to be precise. And then followed many times, this is my sixth time. The four -day firus hey,” she jokes. “But I really like that. I am completely happy with the feeling that it will happen.”
Karen is confident that she and the group cross the finish line. She also hopes to raise the target amount of 15,000 euros for the disease. But above all it becomes an emotional four -day event.
“I am in a tough situation with my husband anyway. But I try to turn that into something powerful. And that is the Four Days Marches for me,” she says determined. “That is my strength.”
