Jens and Tommie will soon be followed via social media on their journey, where they speak with ex-patients and also visit GPs to talk about meningitis. For school it ultimately yields a profile paper. And along the way they also raise money for the Itsme Foundation, which fights with meningitis.
Jens: “On their site you will also find more about our trip. The goal was 1500 euros. We are already at 1600 and then the bike ride has to start.”
Tandem
The boys no longer know exactly how they came up with the idea of the tandem. “At least we wanted to do something that nobody else does in the classroom. By driving on a tandem through the country and keeping a vlog, we can at least generate attention,” says Tommie.
Jens adds: “We are making a trip from West to East. Via Deventer and Zutphen to Twente, where my grandmother lives. We have arranged more sleeping places. And then back home via Nijmegen and Arnhem.”
Ajax legs
When asked how well they have prepared for this adventure, a big smile follows. “No, we didn’t train,” says Tommie. “But we are pretty good athletes, so I think it will work.”
“Moreover, Tommie played football at Ajax, so we have to talk about his Ajax legs,” laughs Jens. “I myself stopped playing football last year. Not because of the meningitis, I was just not very good at it. But I do go to the gym and do tennis and padel.”
Jens was lucky: he has recovered completely. “Forty percent of people with meningitis have residual symptoms. Some are deaf or blind. Ten to fifteen people a day are on. A quarter even die, especially with babies it can be fatal. I am as good as the old one, I have had an angel on my shoulder.”