Maurits Lammertink celebrates his 31st birthday this Tuesday, but it is an unusual anniversary for the rider of Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux. Since his bad accident on June 22nd, in which he was run over by a scooter when walking on the pavement with his family, the Dutch rider resides in the rehabilitation centre of Enschede to recover from a cerebral trauma and a broken collarbone. The rider speaks about the progression he made and the prospects for the future, two months after several successful surgeries.
The situation in which I am today contradicts my character and my habits. As a professional cyclist, I want to work hard to progress. Unfortunately, I have to accept a long and difficult recovery process. The desire to ride my bike is strong, but the consequences of my accident don't enable me to do it yet. With my physiotherapist, I train to lift my arm. I regularly visit my osteopath to keep my body in balance. Doctors say that my rehabilitation process follows a normal progress. Concerning my brain injury, it goes with ups and downs but the progress is visible. It is difficult to find words, to construct sentences, to read and understand a story. My family often laughs when I pronounce a word in a strange way or when I use a wrong word for a certain object. Luckily, things are getting better. A couple of weeks ago, I could only read half a page of a book. Today, I can read five. This progress brings courage, to me and my family. I don't know yet whether I'll become the same person as before. But the doctors told us that I'll be able live normally. And to ride my bike! I try to work out on the Elite rollers, and I even went out on a city bike in company of my family. There's still a long way to go before our family bounces back from the accident and before I recover completely, but we are and stay courageous!
