Suddenly paraplegic. In Kirchzarten in the southern Black Forest, the two former professional athletes Benjamin Rudiger (mountain biking) and Kirsten Bruhn (swimming) talked about a few life-changing seconds, about the before and, above all, the after.
He is the quintessential Black Forest man, a self-proclaimed "block of wood", but in a positive sense: down-to-earth, friendly, usually in a good mood and hard to get under his skin. A firm handshake, accompanied by a broad grin. "Benny" is how he introduces himself. Benjamin Rudiger, a former cross-country professional, has been in a wheelchair since 2015. A ridiculously minor accident on his own home circuit on 10 January, almost four years ago. And that wasn't even the first serious stroke of fate in Rudiger's life.
2000 to 2006: Career in cross country
But it all started so well: Athletics, football, alpine skiing and, of course, a bit of cross-country skiing - after all, something like the national sport of the region around Titisee-Neustadt. But none of it really appealed to him. Athletics was too boring. Rudiger lacked "the necessary fine motor skills" for football and alpine skiing, as he admits with a mischievous grin. But it was in cross-country mountain biking that he caught fire. In 2000, he obtained his first racing licence, and just one year later he won the Baden-Württemberg state junior championship and the class victory in the then prestigious ultra-bike marathon.
Cancer at the age of 21
A stellar career followed until 2006, with several German championship titles in the cross-country discipline and even a seventh place at the then already highly competitive U23 World Championships in Livigno in 2005. But then, at the age of just 21, she received a devastating diagnosis: Hodgkin's disease - lymphoma. It's not easy to cope with something like that. Especially not in his early twenties, Rudiger is quite frank about that. It was the first time he had to completely change his life, but he managed it well.
And at least he had a bit of luck in his misfortune. The chemotherapy worked well, and barely a year later he was back in the saddle and able to continue taking part in bike competitions. Now it was mainly long-distance races in which the man from Kirchzarten continued to make a name for himself. But you can't make a living from that alone, so an apprenticeship as a bank clerk provided the rest of his income. Until that January day in 2015, when the former competitive athlete suddenly found himself in a wheelchair. The cause was more of a fall than a real fall, but he had fallen badly and a vertebra had pinched the nerve. It's crazy how fragile the body is sometimes.
The first thought was not complicated: "Sh...!"
What do you think at such a moment? When you finally realise that you won't be able to walk again? Benny Rudiger and Kirsten Bruhn, his co-referee, agree that it's nothing complicated. More like this: "SHIT!!!" Looking back, says Rudiger, it is above all his friends, family and confidants who saved him from sliding into complete, hopeless despair and who continue to support him. His close environment and a job. He has realised that being able to help is at least as important as being helped. For Rudiger, it's his job at the Sparkasse, but even more so his voluntary work. It's about doing something good for others, getting involved in something, even or especially because it makes you feel a little better, a little more "meaningful".
Change of perspective
The accident also brought about a major change in perspective for Rudiger and even more so for Bruhn, the swimmer. She says: "Nothing is more annoying than simply being pushed around without being asked." It's up to the woman (or the man)! And when it comes to wheelchairs, walking disabilities and, above all, dealing with them, both see a great need for action and education in society. Accessibility concerns very basic, everyday things that non-disabled people don't think about.
Normality as a vision
"Can you go to the toilet on your own where you're going?" is a question they both often ask themselves now when they need to go somewhere. It sounds simple, but for both of them - as for everyone else in a wheelchair, of course - it's anything but trivial. After all, accessibility is a little more complicated than you might think. And we'd like to repeat it again: pushing and carrying without asking is an absolute no-go! On the one hand, of course, it's about practicality, but it's also about dignity. After all, even the proverbial Emperor of China visits the toilet alone. Bruhn nods in agreement. Both are equally important, that's clear. And how do you feel when people bend down to you, look at you with pity and suddenly start speaking loudly and clearly? Simply "stupid", says the swimmer, who has won several gold medals at the Paralympics. And: "I'm disabled, not deaf!" She only thinks that, but doesn't usually say it. Only sometimes, when people are really being too stupid.
So there is still a lot to do before Kirsten's wish is fulfilled, the wish for a "completely normal" life. The wish for wheelchair users to be treated like normal people. And perhaps those of us who still walk on two legs should reinterpret the motto of the lecture evening in Kirchzarten a little: "You can do more than you think!" was the motto. But "She/he can do more than you think" is just as true. Or did you know that Kirsten Bruhn set a world record in breaststroke after her accident? Or that Benny Rudiger is now back on his bike (now with three wheels) roaming the woods and has even taken up cross-country skiing again?
Curious? More information can be found on the website of Benny Rudiger and Kirsten Bruhn and of course on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.
Adrian Kaether
Editor
