Zweit Veur Leid

Routes and registration
You can make it as challenging as you want by choosing one of three routes: 4 kilometres, 8 kilometres or 12 kilometres. Another beautiful route has been created along the 'green carpet' of Maastricht. Please register by clicking on the link to ensure that your donation benefits our charity: Geef Balans een Kans. Participation costs €10 for students, €20 for UM/ AZM employees and alumni and €25 for external relations. All of our team members will also receive a professional running shirt, designed specifically for this occasion.

Please register via the website of the University Fund Limburg

A chance for balance
This year we hope to inspire students, staff and alumni to participate in a charity run for people with severe balance problems. People with impaired vestibular systems experience difficulties walking and stabilising images. They have extremely limited mobility and are therefore more likely to become socially isolated. This disability impairs their daily functioning to such an extent that some people choose to take their own lives. The group may be small, but their suffering is great.

Problems with the vestibular system are difficult to detect. Many patients complain of vague symptoms, become trapped in the medical rigmarole and end up being referred to a psychiatrist. And to think that roughly one in every thousand patients experience full impairment of both vestibular systems. Three patients are diagnosed every week with severe vestibular problems. For many of them, this is their only hope for a serious diagnosis.

The solution
The UM Faculty of Medicine and the ENT department joined forces to develop a special vibrating belt to help people with this serious condition. The vast majority of the patients who tried this belt were extremely enthusiastic. A home study revealed that wearing the belt significantly improved quality of life.

Sign up and join in
The €25,000 donation raised by Zweit Veur Leid will be used to develop three belts for people in and around Maastricht who suffer from vestibular impairment. There are more than forty such patients nationwide, three of which live in the Maastricht region. Any additional donations will be used to fund research studies to lower the production costs of the belt and to launch a campaign to encourage health insurers to include the vibrating belt in their policies. In addition to supporting the project, we also hope our participation will increase awareness of this vestibular disorder.