On the 7th of August, on holidays in Wales, disaster struck for our friend, colleague, mushroom consultant and trainer and Mushroom Business author John Peeters.
During a hike with his family, he fell from a height of 10 meters in a waterfall. Having crushed his pelvis, damaged his knee and a lumbar vertebra, fractured five ribs, damaged a kidney and the ureter, suffered a collapsed lung and a severe concussion, he barely survived this terrible accident, and was taken by helicopter to hospital. After major surgery, he was put under anesthesia for 5 days. Although his – still fragile – medical situation has improved since then, and John shows fighting spirit, worries are far from over.
For one thing, recovery will probably take a long time, and this will certainly keep him and his wife Thea – who has been with him all this time – from their self-employed business projects, hurting their income. Another, acute problem is ongoing uncertainty and hassle about repatriation to The Netherlands. His travel insurance company SOS-International does not seem to make much of an effort, and John and Thea desperately want to come home. If you by any chance read this and could help out in this specific field, please contact us (roel@mushroombusiness.com or mark.den.ouden@mushroomoffice.com), we’ll make sure you’ll get in touch with Thea.
Another way you could surely help out is by donating something at the fundraiser https://whydonate.nl/fundraising/Help-John-op-de-been/nl which a family friend has started online. You can find updates on John’s situation there as well. Your contribution can help the family somewhat in the difficult months ahead.
We all hope John can be repatriated very soon, so he can start working on his comeback! As Eddie Vedder, one of John’s favorite rock singers wrote: “If something’s low, I wanna put a little high on it. If something’s lost, I wanna fight to get it back again.”
UPDATE: John has been repatriated to The Netherlands, and after a stay in Maastricht hospital, he is now working on his recovery in a rehabilitation centre in Hoensbroek.
