{"id":79193,"date":"2017-06-29T15:12:45","date_gmt":"2017-06-29T13:12:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=79193"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:22:49","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:22:49","slug":"stoempen-tegen-ms-over-campus-woudestein","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2017\/06\/29\/stoempen-tegen-ms-over-campus-woudestein\/","title":{"rendered":"Going \u00e0 bloc against MS across campus Woudestein"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tErasmus Sport<\/span>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

You\u2019re 20 years old and seem fit as a fiddle. Then suddenly the muscles in your arm stop working. The diagnosis is grim: you have Multiple Sclerosis (MS), a chronic and progressive inflammation of the brain and spinal cord.<\/p>\n

Suddenly \u2013 together with some 20,000 other Dutch citizens \u2013 you are faced with a condition that is one of the leading causes of disability among young adults. Last Saturday, MS was the central focus of the Tour de Rotterdam, a cycling event with distances from 25 to 150 kilometres. The proceeds of the day will be donated to Erasmus MC\u2019s MS Centre.<\/p>\n

Over 2,000 entrants lined up near Topsport Centrum, where a ship\u2019s horn signalled the peloton to get moving. The pack also included numerous members of the Erasmus MC workforce.<\/p>\n

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\u2018You never get used to making this diagnosis\u2019<\/h3>
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Physician-researchers Yu Yi Wong and Roos van der Vuurst de Vries research MS among children and adults respectively, and are very aware of how serious this condition is. Van der Vuurst de Vries: \u201cThe moment patients suffer the very first attack, I have to tell them that they have been diagnosed with an illness that will affect them for the rest of their lives. I never get used to this.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ladies completed the 25-km circuit. Wong: \u201cThe event is held in Rotterdam, and was organised for our department. Surely you can\u2019t let others cycle on your behalf without joining in?\u201d<\/p>\n

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Their colleague Merel Visser (who is training at the Paediatrics ward) rode the 45-km circuit. Visser lives opposite the MS Centre. \u201cEvery day, I see people entering the centre in wheelchairs, and I can see their condition declining. That is why I am very happy with this opportunity to help.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018MS beter en veiliger afremmen\u2019<\/h3>

The Tour de Rotterdam can help raise public awareness of this condition, according to Rogier Hintzen, Head of the MS Centre. \u201cCycling is an accessible sport that you can keep up far longer than walking. It is often used in rehabilitation programmes. As a centre, we are \u2018threatened\u2019 by other charity causes. Every year, we need some 400,000 to 500,000 euro to provide our scientific researchers with structural funding rather than \u2018piecemeal contracts\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

MS Centre Rotterdam is one of the three academic centres that specialise in the disease. \u201cWe connect our patient care with scientific research,\u201d says Hintzen. \u201cThe patients\u2019 medical data is used both to optimise treatments and as input in further research into MS itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Rogier Hintzen.<\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>

Indeed, the proceeds of the recent event will be used for research \u2013 mainly into blood cells. Hintzen: \u201cWe want to know which cells frequently cause MS. We can use this knowledge for targeted interventions. Our current medicines are not that precise yet, and as a result, patients are more susceptible to infections. We want to slow down MS more effectively and safer, so that people can lead a happier life. Because while MS patients often grow just as old as healthy individuals, they may become paralysed when electrical signals no longer reach their muscle cells. In addition, this research could allow us to make far more accurate predictions about the disease\u2019s progression.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wind and rain<\/h3>

Every year, the entrants in the Tour de Rotterdam cycle for a different charity. The organisers\u2019 decision to choose MS this year was inspired by its tendency to afflict people in their prime \u2013 between the ages of 20 and 45. \u201cWe want to show people that even at such a young age, good health is by no means a given,\u201d explains organiser Wim Waninge. The supermarket Albert Heijn also participated in the event: customers could raise funds for MS research by buying bread buns.<\/p>\n

And the entrants really gave it their all. Visser: \u201cWe had strong headwind on the Van Brienenoord Bridge, and on top of that a downpour. That was hard going. At which point you start thinking about people who have MS \u2013 they have to live with far less power and energy than we have.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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De redactie<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t
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