Welcome to my team page!

On Sunday, November 3, I'm proud to be running the 2019 TCS New York City Marathon on behalf of the The ALS Therapy Development Institute.

Betsy, my mother in law, was diagnosed with ALS late 2004 and after a very progressive deterioration she passed away in the fall of 2005 at the age of 54. I was close to Betsy and my wife’s family in the final months of her disease and this has made an ever lasting impact.

I first met Betsy in 2002. During our first family get together it was clear we had a very good connection and shared the same type of humor. If Betsy had still been alive, she would have witnessed her 3 daughters growing up and becoming mothers themselves. Today, she would have been a proud and very caring grandma of 5 boys and 1 little girl.

To summarize some special moments that will always be linked to Betsy:

• I proposed my wife on the beautiful Dutch island of Terschelling - the place where my father in-law first met Betsy and proposed her - and we got married in a small village in the rural area where Betsy was born and raised.
• My wife and I both climbed the Mont Ventoux (France) in 2012 during the Tour du ALS, a fund raising cycling event, a few weeks after my wife found out she was pregnant of our oldest son Tom.

I am sure the NYC Marathon will add to this list of special moments that will always link to Betsy.

I am very honored and proud to get the opportunity to support the important work of the ALS TDI. Your donation will fuel the continuous efforts to continue to move promising ALS therapies into effective treatments. Please help me by making a donation.