Colorful strings of pennants and balloons adorn the children's planet and people with homemade rainbow flags wait excitedly along the street. They are waiting for the rainbow riders of the German Childhood Cancer Foundation, a group of around 40 adults who also suffered from cancer in their childhood or youth and are now fully back in life. Every year, the Rainbow Riders take a whole week's vacation to cycle from hospital to hospital, bringing one thing above all else to the children with cancer and their families on the ward: Courage and hope.
This year, our clinic in Halle/Saale was once again on the itinerary of the Rainbow Ride. After the first stage from Erfurt to Jena, the riders really got down to business on 18.08.2024 with a daily distance of over 100 km to us in the city on the Saale. But where there's a will, there's a way.
After a welcome from our CEO Andreas Domaske and Halle's mayor Egbert Geier, there was a sweet refreshment with coffee, cake, donuts, fruit and colorful cocktails from Fruchtalarm.
Afterwards, the drivers visited the patients on the pediatric oncology ward and handed out small “power gifts” to the families. A particularly emotional moment, however, is always the specially sung song of courage with the message to stay strong and never give up - after all, the rainbow drivers can best empathize with all the worries and problems of our patients.
After dinner at the Kinderplaneten, the riders went to the hotel together before the third stage to Leipzig followed the next day.
For our families, the visit of the Rainbow Riders is always a strengthening moment and for many of our children it is a big goal: to get well and later be allowed to drive from clinic to clinic as Rainbow Riders themselves!
