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MARATHON Medal 2003 as a thank you to the doctors at the Concord Hospital in Sydney

Call for donations to the Balinese and Indonesian bomb victims

2003-09-20

She is making a call to the “Running Family“ to help support the Balinese and Indonesian victims of the bombing. Read the moving story of her suffering and how she won the fight for survival—and found new strength to go on through running. Please support this call for donations and demonstrate your solidarity with the victims, who need all the help they can get (account info at the end of the articles).

On the evening of October12, 2002, I was out with my three friends and numerous other Bali vacationers at the Sari Club, when at 11:07 a bomb went of that turned the whole club to rubble and ashes, cost 202 people their lives, and severely injured twice as many. I myself fled with now- unfathomable strength from the burning building, was assisted by a woman from Holland and driven to the next clinic by motorcycle, and then taken to Denpassar to the Shaglah Hospital in an ambulance with several other injured people.

My three girlfriends did not survive the attack. I had an emergency operation on an open fractured collarbone and then waited until the next evening for an Australian military transport to Darwin. The treatment was poor and not sterile.

In Darwin, the doctors decided that I was too severely injured to be cared for there, and I was then transported with the next military airplane to Sydney. Four days after the attack, I was operated on in Sydney, lay 2 days in intensive care, and then fought to survive a week long against the multi-resistant bacteria, with a high fever (40-41 degrees). 35 % of my skin was burned and had to be transplanted; due to the bacteria, the transplants in part did not grow together, and I had to be operated on 4 times in Sydney alone. Both eardrums had burst, my face was broken, and I had a large wound on the back of my head. I could no longer walk, eat on my own, and I lost 10 kilograms. After 6 weeks, I was able to be transported and was flown to Germany. There I spent 4 weeks in a hospital in Marzahn (in isolation, due to the bacteria), and was operated on 2 more times. I was able to leave the hospital in mid-December, but was not able to take care of myself. My parents cared for me, and shortly before Christmas, with all my will power, I was able to stand on a treadmill for the first time—first for 3 minutes, then 5, then 20. In mid-January I had to return to the hospital for corrective surgery to improve my mobility—again in isolation due to the bacteria. I was released from the hospital into a rehabilitation clinic in Bad Klosterlausnitz. When after 10 days the bacteria MRSA were again found, I had to leave, as I would not have been able to psychologically handle the isolation one more time. I was cared for successfully 6 weeks at home by my parents, and was then able to continue the rehab bacteria free. At that time I ran my first full 5 km again.

I was able to convince the doctors in the rehab clinic that running was good for me, and I got permission to train for the 25km race in Berlin, which I ran on May 4 in 2:28:00h. I was very proud and happy. After confronting the woman who rescued me, I had a psychological collapse. I was submitted to the hospital with post-traumatic stress symptoms. I was not able to train for 4 weeks, was looking for a suitable therapist, and have been receiving psychological care since June. I am receiving physical therapy and scar massage parallel to the psychological treatment. Running obviously has aided my psychological stabilisation, and for the past 2 months I have been preparing for the marathon.

I ran the Braunschweig Half Marathon on Friday, September 5, with my personal best time of 2:00:15h. I am dedicating the 30th real,- BERLIN MARATHON on September 288, 2003 to the Balinese and Indonesian victims of the bombing in the form of a call for donations. I will be sending my medal to the Concord Hospital in Sydney as a thank you to the chief of staff of the burn injury station, Dr. Maitz, and the nurses and caretakers who work there, who assured me that I would not have survived had I not run the 29th BERLIN MARATHON (on September 29, 2002) just 2 weeks before the attack and had had such good endurance training.

Ingrid Remke

Donations:
Sparkasse – Account Number: 35 40 10 60 56 – Bank Number: 100 500 00
Memo: "Hilfe für Balinesische und Indonesische Bombenopfer"