{"id":6340,"date":"2025-03-05T14:42:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T13:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/bibliotheek\/i-am-incredibly-grateful-to-rinie\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T17:14:29","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T15:14:29","slug":"i-am-incredibly-grateful-to-rinie","status":"publish","type":"library_pt","link":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/library\/personal-stories\/i-am-incredibly-grateful-to-rinie\/","title":{"rendered":"I am incredibly grateful to Rinie"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-post-date\"><time datetime=\"2025-03-05T14:42:00+01:00\">05 March 2025<\/time><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Mieke (35)<\/strong> <\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI was at the net. A hard attack shot came my way that I wanted to block. But the ball ricocheted off the frame of my own racket and hit me right in the right eye. At first, I didn\u2019t realize how serious it was. But the damage turned out to be irreversible. Fortunately, I still have my own eye. You can hardly tell anything is wrong\u2014only the pupil is slightly dilated. I\u2019ve lost my vision in that eye; I have a blind spot, and it\u2019s hard to judge depth.\u201d         <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For the first few weeks after the accident, I wasn\u2019t allowed to exert myself\u2014just walking at most. Just a week after the accident, Rinie came to pick me up, and we walked to the tennis court with a small backpack containing our racket. Then we\u2019d do 10 minutes of simple ball drills there. At first, much to my frustration, I missed almost every ball. But things quickly started to improve. We did this a few times a week. I\u2019m so glad Rinie was willing to do that with me.        <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At first, I was afraid something would happen to my good eye. Fortunately, I\u2019ve gotten over that fear. I\u2019m looking forward to the future with optimism. The OOG in OOG Association really helped me with that. I\u2019m also in the Facebook group. I immediately started looking for people there who also play tennis. I got some advice from a man who plays tennis. And then I thought, \u201cI\u2019m just going to do this!\u201d         <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It stays exciting at the net, especially when we\u2019re up against a strong opponent. But then I just stand at the back of the court next to Rinie. That way, I can decide for myself when to move forward. That often throws the opponent off a bit, too, so that\u2019s a nice bonus. And I wear sports glasses now. I bought the very best ones. Nothing can happen to me with these on.        <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;I&#8217;m truly grateful and happy that I can play again. Life certainly hasn&#8217;t lost its value since the accident. It puts things into perspective, and I&#8217;m blessed with a great deal of resilience.&#8221;  <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Rinie (55)<\/strong> <\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou do what you can to be there for your friends in such a difficult situation. The first week, Mieke felt very nauseous and dizzy. She really had to get used to seeing with just one eye. After that, things got better.     <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Those first few times, she often hit over the ball. I\u2019ve also tried playing tennis with one eye closed, and that\u2019s when you realize just how hard it really is. But practice makes perfect. Mieke\u2019s shot quickly got better and better. She does especially well with balls that come in fast and don\u2019t require too much thought. But it\u2019s often the simple balls that are tricky. That\u2019s when she has more trouble judging depth\u2014especially when the ball comes toward the side of her blind eye. And when she has to run to a ball, it\u2019s also harder for her to judge the distance.          <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I really have a ton of respect for Mieke. She\u2019s so positive. I always thought she\u2019d be able to get back to playing tennis well. But I also knew it would take a long time. It\u2019s no small feat, of course. During the first few months, she\u2019d sometimes get emotional on the court. That was the feeling of helplessness that came from not being able to do it. But that got better every month. I don\u2019t mind at all that she sometimes hits over the ball. I really don\u2019t care one bit. I\u2019m especially hard on myself. I have a lot of respect for Mieke.\u201d  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tennis plays an important role in Mieke\u2019s life. She\u2019s sometimes on the court as many as four times a week. During a tennis tournament in 2023, Mieke was unlucky enough to get hit in the eye by a tennis ball. She lost her vision in that eye due to a tear in the choroid. For a brief moment, she thought she would have to give up her passion. But nothing could be further from the truth. Her tennis friend Rinie helped her get back into her favorite sport.        <\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":6341,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_daextauttol_enable_tooltips":""},"library_cat":[113],"class_list":["post-6340","library_pt","type-library_pt","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","library_cat-personal-stories"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/library_pt\/6340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/library_pt"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/library_pt"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"library_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/library_cat?post=6340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}