{"id":14943,"date":"2026-10-28T15:16:42","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T14:16:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/egmond-circle.eu\/reuniting-remembering-and-looking-to-the-future-together\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T16:18:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T15:18:18","slug":"reuniting-remembering-and-looking-to-the-future-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/egmond-circle.eu\/en\/reuniting-remembering-and-looking-to-the-future-together\/","title":{"rendered":"Reuniting, Remembering, and Looking to the Future Together"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seeing old friends again, making new connec\u00adtions, shar\u00ading expe\u00adri\u00adences, and look\u00ading ahead together: these were the hopes that brought people with Thalido\u00admide damage from all over the world to Egmond aan Zee. At the offi\u00adcial open\u00ading of the \u201cEgmond Circle\u201d, it became clear just how much connects them \u2013 and how impor\u00adtant it is to preserve the knowl\u00adedge built up over decades.<\/p>\n

Inter\u00adna\u00adtional networking<\/strong><\/p>\n

Udo Hert\u00aderich, chair\u00adman of the Inter\u00adessen\u00adver\u00adband Contergan\u00adgesch\u00e4digter NRW e. V., explained what matters most to him: medical find\u00adings and personal expe\u00adri\u00adences should be gath\u00adered, docu\u00admented, and made perma\u00adnently acces\u00adsi\u00adble. As those affected grow older, many face new health chal\u00adlenges. Things that could once be learned with effort and managed inde\u00adpen\u00addently are often harder today. All the more reason, he said, for doctors to connect inter\u00adna\u00adtion\u00adally and share their knowl\u00adedge \u2013 includ\u00ading with special\u00adists treat\u00ading patients back home.<\/p>\n

Strength\u00aden\u00ading community<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lucia Feijen of the Dutch Thalido\u00admide asso\u00adci\u00ada\u00adtion NESOS looked ahead to the coming days: medical talks, work\u00adshops, inno\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive aids, and prac\u00adti\u00adcal solu\u00adtions are all on the programme, along\u00adside shared activ\u00adi\u00adties. But above all, she said, it\u2019s about reviv\u00ading old friend\u00adships, form\u00ading new ones, laugh\u00ading together, and enjoy\u00ading this time as a community.<\/p>\n

A partic\u00adu\u00adlarly quiet moment during the open\u00ading showed that this commu\u00adnity also includes those who can no longer be here. To Leonard Cohen\u2019s \u201cHallelu\u00adjah\u201d, photos commem\u00ado\u00adrated those affected by Thalido\u00admide who have passed away since 1981. A dedi\u00adcated memo\u00adr\u00adial and reflec\u00adtion room also offers space for personal thoughts and memo\u00adries through\u00adout the congress.<\/p>\n

Thanks for the commitment<\/strong><\/p>\n

Things turned heart\u00adfelt once again when the people who had prepared the \u201cEgmond Circle\u201d with so much time, energy, and dedi\u00adca\u00adtion were invited up on stage. There was a special surprise for Clau\u00addia Schmidt-Herterich: she had actu\u00adally preferred to stay in the back\u00adground, but her fellow orga\u00adniz\u00aders brought her forward with\u00adout hesi\u00adta\u00adtion to thank her for her tire\u00adless commitment.<\/p>\n

After this open\u00ading, there\u2019s much to look forward to in the coming days \u2013 new insights, in-depth conver\u00adsa\u00adtions, moving stories, and hope\u00adfully plenty of shared moments of joy.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With moving moments, personal stories, and great antic\u00adi\u00adpa\u00adtion for the days ahead, the \u201cEgmond Circle\u201d was offi\u00adcially opened.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14955,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[266],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-egmond-2"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/egmond-circle.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/egmond-circle.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/egmond-circle.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egmond-circle.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egmond-circle.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14943"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/egmond-circle.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15109,"href":"https:\/\/egmond-circle.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14943\/revisions\/15109"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egmond-circle.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/egmond-circle.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egmond-circle.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egmond-circle.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}