Hoofddorper Tim Schroeder (36) today started a bike ride with friend Richard to the Spanish city of Alicante. With this they hope to raise money for research into the Usher syndrome, which Tim’s 5-year-old daughter Eleyna suffers from.
Cycling for daughter with Usher – NH Nieuws
“I’m really looking forward to it, I can’t wait to get on my bike and just start”, says Tim just before departure for the camera of NH Nieuws. Fifteen minutes later, the friends set off, with about 2,200 kilometers ahead of them.
The men hope to collect 25,000 euros with their bike ride. “For the Usher Syndrome foundation,” says Tim. “My daughter has that syndrome that will slowly make her go deaf and blind as long as there is no treatment.”
Tim says that pharmaceutical companies ‘hope to bring something to the market by 2025’. “But that’s going to cost a lot of money, so hopefully this will speed things up a bit too.”
Usher syndrome
Usher syndrome is a hereditary disease that currently affects about 900 people in the Netherlands. The incurable disease first affects hearing and from puberty onwards also vision.
This starts with night blindness and progresses until it looks like you are looking through a straw. This also applies to 5-year-old Eleyna, who can now participate in the regular school system thanks to a hearing aid. As she gets older, this will become more and more difficult.
Tim and Richard hope to reach the Costa Blanca in three weeks. “Just keep going”, Tim replies wittily when NH Nieuws asks him how he is going to keep it up. “But don’t try to go too hard either.”
“We will seize every day to make the most of it”
The Pyrenees, the mountains on the border of France and Spain, seem to be the biggest challenge of the tour. “Then I think of my daughter, then the powers must come back, I think,” says Tim.
Optimist
By raising money for the foundation, true optimist Tim not only cycles for his daughter, but for all Usher patients. “I am especially looking forward to it, every day we will use it to make the best of it and to raise as much money as possible!”, says Tim, with his bike in hand.