“Woman walks 329km to raise money for Brain Foundation after surviving meningitis and brain injury”

2023-05-30 18:15:45

Rosalie van Blanken’s life has been turned upside down for six months now. While recovering from a successful stomach reduction, the Enschede suffered from severe headaches at the beginning of December. Cerebral fluid leak, it turned out. And then meningitis. The consequences are still there, but she now wants to ‘give something back’ to the Hersenstichting. Yesterday she started a 329 kilometer walk that lasts seventeen days and hopes to ‘earn’ money for the foundation.

Sneeze hard

The sudden headache that tormented her last December had nothing to do with the gastric bypass. “After that stomach surgery, things were actually going pretty well until I woke up at night with a pounding headache and ended up in the hospital.” The diagnosis was cerebrospinal fluid leak. Headache, dizziness, nausea and vomiting were the result. She doesn’t know what caused the leak. “Hitting your head hard, sneezing hard. Don’t know, it was just there.”

Meningitis

The pressure in the brain was too low and was brought back to normal after treatment. But the headache came back in full force. Meningitis was the conclusion. “And back to the hospital. Could not tolerate sounds and light. You lie down and hope it passes. You really don’t know what hit you.”

Overstimulated

Six months later she is in the studio with non-congenital brain injury. “My life has been turned upside down. I am still overstimulated and tired and have concentration problems.” That makes it difficult, also because she has four children. “You can just go off your bat. My husband has to absorb the blows.”

“Couldn’t tolerate sounds and light. You lie down and hope it passes”

Rosalie van Blanken

Panic Attack

Van Blanken was recently in the supermarket and had a panic attack. “I stood there and didn’t know why. What am I doing here, I wondered. Bystanders didn’t know what to make of it. You hope that they will address you and check how I am doing. That makes a difference.” She sometimes suffers from aphasia, which makes her unable to speak. “It’s sad.”

‘I’m back’

“I’m on the right track,” she says. Seventeen days of walking 329 kilometers is for a kind of therapy. “It is the feeling that I can organize something again. That you can show that you are back.”

Knowledge transfer

The Enschede would love to give something back to the Hersenstichting that assists her. “The foundation has meant a lot to me by talking to me about what is going on with me. Explanation and knowledge transfer, that’s what it’s all about, so that I can better deal with bad moments.”

Donations

The walk started on Monday. Donations for the Brain Foundation are welcome and can be deposited via the Rosalie van Blanken page on the Brain Foundation’s website or via Rosalie van Blanken’s Facebook page.