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477 km, 4 cities, 3 days, 2 highly motivated men
IDERHA's leads Philip Gribbon and Christian Muehlendyck brought 'taking your bike to work' to another level, riding their bikes from Hamburg to Utrecht this weekend.
‘We had a fantastic time in beautiful autumn countryside and found the best places for lasagne, apple pie and kebab along the way – and steak in Utrecht!’ Christian sounded very cheerful still after having spent 21 hours on a saddle with Phil, covering 477 kilometers between Hamburg and Utrecht.
They decided to come to the extended Steering Committee (eSCOM) meeting in Utrecht (14-16 October) by bike, starting on Saturday and arriving Monday evening. Not only because they enjoyed being in the outdoors or because they get along so well, but also to raise money for lung cancer research. Phil: ‘I looked upon this trip as an opportunity to raise awareness of unmet patient needs in lung cancer and highlight how IDERHA is playing a small, but important, role in defining new ways to systematically detect, diagnose and treat this devastating disease.’
Phil Gribbon, IDERHA academic leadI looked upon this trip as an opportunity to raise awareness of unmet patient needs in lung cancer
We quickly arranged a fundraising website with the help of KWF Dutch Cancer Society, a Dutch private organization awarding over € 170 million euros each year on cancer research and awareness campaigns. From their website: ‘KWF Dutch Cancer Society stands against cancer. The Society enables groundbreaking research and improves care and support for everyone affected by this devastating disease. In doing so, we gratefully rely on the generous support of thousands of volunteers and donors.’
After a few days we already reached our goal of € 1,000! An incredible result that we are very grateful for. You can still donate to try and reach the € 2,000 mark 😊
Christian Muehlendyck, IDERHA industry leadThe smooth connection of bike pathways between Germany and the Netherlands is a great example for our ambition at IDERHA for connecting health data!
Monday evening they enjoyed a well-deserved bottle of champagne together, to celebrate their achievement and the fact that it inspired people to donate for the fight against lung cancer, which is of course the central use case in the IDERHA project. Fully energized and ready for the eSCOM meeting in Utrecht, Christian briefly reflected on how he saw similarities between IDERHA and their bike ride while crossing the border: ‘The bike pathways were so smoothly connected that we missed the border between Germany and The Netherlands. It is a great example for our ambition at IDERHA for connecting health data!’
