Some colleagues commented on Dr. Olav Heringer’s plans like this: “As a doctor, you can also actively get yourself into jail.” Others found the risky idea “rather courageous”. And it is courageous to cover 54 kilometers with 13 cancer patients on the Rheinsteig hiking trail between Wiesbaden and Rüdesheim. Heringer, resident oncologist in Wiesbaden since 2011, seems satisfied. He looks down over endless vineyards to the Rhine. Nearby is the Niederwald monument. Too far in the heat.
“The doctor is always in the back of my mind,” says Heringer. “But I try not to let it become so noticeable.” In his backpack he carries painkillers, a resuscitation bag, he could also have seen a fracture on the way. Wasn’t necessary.Everyone managed the tour without complications. “And the Rheinsteig can be reached anywhere by car,” says Heringer. Courage is different from recklessness.
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For those affected, it means rethinking
According to current estimates by the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin, around 470,000 women and men are diagnosed with cancer in Germany every year. Nine out of ten Germans know someone who is affected. The word cancer alone triggers oppressive associations. “Sport doesn’t fit in there,” says Heringer, while traffic on the A643 rushes over the Schiersteiner Bridge above us.
“I first have to do some convincing with many patients.” Since 2006 he has also been giving lectures to doctors. “Among older colleagues, the opinion still prevails: tumor patients belong on the sofa.” More and more studies show exactly the opposite. Figures, tables – here, just before Walluf, they transform into real people.
The first day among like-minded people
Three days earlier, on an initially cloudy Thursday morning, the group had set off on the first stage at Schloss Biebrich in Wiesbaden. It should go as far as Schlangenbad. Nobody knew that one of the warmest weekends of the year was coming. In the meantime, everyone in the group has found a conversation partner and their own pace. Some know each other, others get to know each other. There is laughter, anticipation is in the air. And the cancer? Is not an issue. Precisely because everyone shares the same fate. Tacit understanding.
“Thank God,” says Dorothee Birke, “I don’t just want to talk about it.” Shortly after the start, a sole of the former administrative employee came off. She had hardly worn her hiking boots since she was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2008. The breakdown made her uncomfortable. But a fellow hiker helped and provisionally smoothed the sole with his pocket knife. A taxi was ordered for Dorothee Birke so that she could get her replacement shoes from the hotel. No big deal. Everyone is allowed to be who they are here.
Diagnosis: cancer
The diagnosis of cancer shakes people to their very foundations, their trust in their own body. In the group, this experience becomes an invisible bond that connects everyone. A special intimacy. It doesn’t bother anyone when Hartmut Bock lies down on his sleeping pad for half an hour in the middle of the day. This is his second time here.
The 72-year-old, doctor of physics and history, wears a wide support belt around his stomach. That’s where the tumors lurk. Incurable.
Since the “Waldgaststätte Rausch” near Eltville only opens at 3 p.m., Bock rests in the shade of a tree. “In 2008 he received the Federal Cross of Merit,” says Dr. Heringer a bit off. He was invited and heard Hartmut Bock say: “There sits the man to whom I owe the fact that I am standing here.” Heringer accompanies him to this day.
The lives of doctor and patient often cross only briefly, the sick person is treated and discharged again. In cancer, both form a common destiny.Often over years, because the treatment options are getting better and better and the chances of survival are increasing. “That fascinated me,” says Heringer. This is also why he became an oncologist and not a pediatrician. “But the notches are getting deeper,” the father of two openly admits. His wife is also a cancer specialist. Like his patients, Heringer also prescribes exercise for himself. As a compensation. He jogs, goes to the gym and rides his bike to work. He lived as a student in Eltville for ten years.
The pizzeria “La Gondola”, where the hiking group meets for dinner, used to be his handball bar. When everyone has ordered, Eva Massingue joins the group. She has just returned from Brazil – and wants to be part of it from now on. “It’s going to be the sportiest thing I’ll do this year,” says the editor and laughs. “I want to know what I can do.” Birgit Möbis sits across from her and nods. In 2006, doctors diagnosed her with ovarian cancer . In May she had her last chemotherapy for the time being. “I’ve had great blood values since then,” says the 54-year-old confidently. “I am living now.”
The next morning, the group takes the train to the last stage: from Oestrich-Winkel to Rüdesheim. 369 meters of altitude. It’s hot, everyone is sweating. Cancel, so close to the finish? It’s out of the question. The route leads past Marienthal Abbey and St. Hildegard Abbey. Quiet places where everyone can be with themselves.
In the afternoon, the group sits together for the last time in a restaurant. Everyone is proud to have made it. Dorothee Birke smiles: “Now I have four nice days on the credit side.” Something that she can counteract with cancer. Maybe Olav Heringer hoped something like this would happen. He smiles back. It happened.
Trust your body again
Eva Massingue, 58, has had a plasmacytoma since 2008.
“I had to sneeze when a sharp pain shot through my back. That’s how it started. Lumbago, I thought, took painkillers and drove to the children’s book fair in Bologna. But it didn’t get any better. When I was back in Frankfurt, my family doctor came and immediately sent me to the hospital. A vertebral fracture was found there.
The thoracic spine had to be stiffened . Doctors spent three weeks looking for the cause. Finally one came up to me and said, ‘It’s cancer. If we don’t do anything, you still have half a year.’ I’ll never forget that. My daughter Isabel was only 14.
The fight for life
I didn’t want to die, felt betrayed by my body. Sport helped me to trust him again. In the second block of chemotherapy I started to train. At first it was difficult for me. But I made progress. That was good for me. I can do it – a wonderful feeling.
Since August 2011, the cancer has left me alone. I recently read that a man lived with a plasmacytoma for 14 years. That gives me hope. It is important never to give the illness so much space. For me it is a deep background tone that I cover with many beautiful things. That includes the hike – and my training every Friday. I never miss that.”
sports liberated
Birgit Möbis , 54, has been living with ovarian cancer for over six years.
“I definitely had to take part in the Rheinsteig hike. After my last chemotherapy in May, I wanted to know where I stood. I’ve always moved a lot. Cancer doesn’t change that. I’ll show him who’s the master of the house. I got that from my husband Peter.
When he fell ill with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 1997, he was always cycling. Even during chemotherapy. He recovered. Nine years later I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, a tumor that is growing rapidly and metastasizing. In the past six years I have had multiple major abdominal surgeries, chemo and microwave therapy.
Win against cancer
Nevertheless, the cancer returned. And every time I felt that. Still, I don’t feel it as a struggle. I’m just not there yet. If I stay in bed I’ll die. Of course there are days when I cry. But today I am no longer afraid of death. When the time comes, I’ll go to a hospice because I want to protect Peter. That way he knows I’m in good hands and can walk when he’s not strong enough.
I think my subconscious thinks about it a lot. I notice that when I wake up in the morning. Then sport clears your head. Now the day begins! I have that feeling afterwards. I do back fitness once a week, often ride my bike, walk and do a lot of gardening. Although I was implanted in 2010 for the chemos. But my doctor once said to me: ‘You can do anything with it – except hunt elephants.’ And I can do without that.”
Sport strengthens the soul
Dorothee Birke , 67, had a malignant brain tumor.
“Hiking – I’ll take part. That was immediately clear to me. I have always been an avid hiker and love nature. Acquaintances are often amazed at what I see on the way. Sometimes I would like to hug the big trees and the blue sky. That also helped me when I was ill.
It started when I twisted my right foot in 2008. I could n’t move the right side of my body and the left side of my face was twitching. It was scary.
My family doctor immediately referred me to a neurologist. But she said I was hyper nervous and sent me on to a thyroid specialist. The tumor in my head was only discovered because she insisted on magnetic resonance imaging.
Shock diagnosis: cancer
He was three by three centimeters and required immediate surgery. I was afraid that my brain would be injured. But the surgery went well. In the follow-up rehab I started with sports. Then came chemotherapy and radiation. I was unsure, but went out into the fresh air with someone as often as possible. That was good. Since March 2011 I’ve been doing sport every Wednesday, a mixture of endurance and strength training. That strengthens me in two ways. The soul more than the body. I go to the check with the firm intention: There is nothing! And that’s how it’s always been. I am well. I am healthy. I enjoy that now.”
Sport relieves the symptoms
Tolfioow: Cancer patients have to take it easy, it used to be said. Today, they begin physical activity as early as chemotherapy. How did this rethinking come about?
dr Freerk Baumann: In my opinion, by two driving forces. On the one hand, the patients themselves have increasingly opposed such prohibitions. On the other hand, many high-quality studies have appeared in the last ten or twelve years that show how important exercise and sport are in connection with cancer.
Do they also reduce the risk of disease?
Yes, for some types of cancer, three to five hours of moderate exercise a week reduces the risk by 20 to 40 percent.
Has it been proven why this is so?
Several theses are discussed. It seems that exercise activates the immune system’s killer cells and increases their number. As a result, tumor cells can be better recognized and combated. Physical activity means that the body has more to counter oxidative stress , i.e. aggressive oxygen compounds that damage the genetic material.
Sport also breaks down hormones that are associated with the development of cancer, e.g. B. insulin, estrogen and testosterone.
How does exercise help if I have cancer?
Thanks to modern therapies, it is now possible to live a long life despite cancer. Exercise improves the quality of life and gives those affected the feeling that they can make a contribution to the recovery process. In addition, being active significantly reduces various side effects of the treatment, such as pain, nausea, muscle wasting, fatigue, anxiety, depression or infections.
Which sports are allowed?
Basically anyone who is fun. It mainly depends on the treatment phase the patient is in and what goals he wants to achieve with the sport.
