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Belgian former wheelchair athlete Marieke "Wielemie" Vervoort passed away at the age of 40. She underwent euthanasia after a very long struggle against an incurable muscle disease.
Marieke Vervoort already signed the necessary documents for euthanasia in 2008, but she continued to fight. She threw herself into her 'bucket list', the wish list of what she wanted to do in this life. But it was a difficult fight, against a body that didn't want to go along anymore. "Once a fighter, always a fighter," Marieke said. She had earned her nickname "The Beast from Diest" for a reason.
Marieke Vervoort was born on 11 May 1979. "I am a high-spirited girl who was paralyzed by a rare disorder and ended up in a wheelchair in the year 2000," she says in her biography. "But complaining doesn't help you move forward". That's why I decided to pick up the thread again and want to make something beautiful out of my life."
Wielemie threw herself into triathlon, after which in 2006 she became world champion quarter distance in the handcycle category in Lausanne, Switzerland. In 2007 she became world champion again in Hamburg, Germany. That year her big dream also came true, by participating in the heavy Iron Man in Hawaii. A month later she was awarded the 'Perseverance of the Year' prize by the Belgian Prime Minister. "Very special", says Wielemie.
But at the beginning of 2008, her life took an unexpected turn, due to a severe uproar of her condition. Suddenly she had to stop, being exhausted during a bike ride of just two kilometres. "I cried, yes. But now I'm picking the days even more than before," she said.
And she scribbled all the way up again. Marieke took part in the Paralympic Games twice more. In London (2012) she won a gold and silver medal and in Rio de Janeiro (2016) a silver and bronze medal. And in between in 2015 in Qatar she won three gold medals at the World Athletics Championships for Paralympians.
Also in 2015, Marieke announced in the TV show "Het Huis" that she wanted to commit euthanasia before the end of that year. Hard television, which generated a lot in the whole of Flanders. But she continued, she just couldn't stop.
But october 22nd 2019 she finally had to stop.
Postscript: the documentary about Marieke in "Het Huis" is by far the most shocking and positive that I have seen about a person. She gets heavy cramps, huge pain attacks and epileptic seizures several times a night. Her assistance dog Zenn can sense and report these attacks one hour in advance. But that doesn't help... These pains are so bad that she faints several times every night. And in the morning she gets up laughing again ...
So Go and see that docu. You then will Never forget here and her Optimism and Spirit. But you have been Warned !
Go Wielemie Go
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