Customer Stories

This story was submitted by Janine.

Janine walks nearly 16,000 kilometers a year – the equivalent of walking to the South Pole.

January 7, 2024 – Damm.
From Germany to the South Pole, it’s 15,735.2 km. Do you know anyone who walks that far every year?
No?
But someone does. Her name is Janine. She’s 26 years old and lives in Schermbeck-Damm. You can see her reddish-blonde hair peeking out from under her cap as she heads out on her daily routes, with the click-clack of her Nordic walking poles and barefoot shoes accompanying each step.

Are you already calculating how many kilometers she must walk each day to reach such an incredible annual total?
It’s regularly 42 km – often over 50 km. Her morning route is around 32 km. And the “small” afternoon round? “Only” about 10 km.

“At midday,” Janine explains, “I also take a dog walk, because Kayla, my little puppy, is only eight months old and still needs calm strolls.”

Why would anyone do something so extreme?
That’s the question Janine is asked almost every day during her walks. “I always say,” she explains, “it simply does me good and gives me the structure I need in life. Sure, there’s more behind it – but you can’t explain all of that on the street.”

There are people who face their challenges in unusual ways, and often sport becomes the tool for coping.
For Janine, walking is much more than physical activity. Like for many others, it has a healing effect – not just on the body, but on the mind. Constant movement helps release endorphins – the so-called happiness hormones – and reduces stress.

“When I walk,” she says, “I think, I reflect, I process. It’s like active meditation.”

Organizing thoughts and reclaiming a sense of control

The rhythm of her steps and the steady breathing help her sort her thoughts and regain a sense of control – something Janine often felt lacking in her life.
She’s had to deal with many difficult experiences. Through movement, she’s found a way to cope better.

Her medical story began in infancy, when she was diagnosed with hydrocephalus. She had to have a shunt implanted to drain the built-up cerebrospinal fluid. Over the years, she underwent multiple surgeries to adjust or replace it.

“The surgeries themselves weren’t the worst,” Janine recalls. “The fear that something could go wrong every time I had a headache – that was terrifying. And the bullying in school was even worse. Other kids would throw basketballs at my head and insult me. It wasn’t just physically painful.”

Janine has also been living with rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis for years. You might associate these conditions with older people, but according to the German Rheumatism Research Center, at least 20,000 children and adolescents in Germany suffer from chronic inflammatory rheumatic diseases.

“I’ve always had a lot of pain,” she says, “and I’ve always been very sensitive. I trusted people easily – and was often let down. I don’t have friends. My best friend is Kayla, my dog.”

The bullying in secondary school eventually became so bad that Janine dropped out. “It was all just too much – too much pressure, too much pain. I felt broken and exploited. Waking up with stomach aches every day just to go to school was unbearable.”

Feeling unaccepted and rejected took a huge toll. Around that time, she began exercising regularly – horseback riding, cycling everywhere, working out at the gym, and jogging up to 16 km a day. She quickly noticed: movement helped.

“I’m not running away – I feel like I’m running with myself, toward myself. I’ve found a release valve that I truly need. The pain lessens as I walk. Hour by hour, it gets better. I walk myself into freedom,” she explains. “Even back then, I could already feel it.”

Her current health situation is especially difficult

What started as jogging evolved into a deep passion for walking over the past three years – and today it’s more important than ever. Janine’s health has deteriorated recently. She’s been diagnosed with one rare autoimmune disease, and a second is still under investigation.

Three years ago, she already had joint pain. Her hands would often go numb, her fingers turned bluish. Her back pain worsened due to the rheumatoid arthritis, affecting her entire left side. Rehabilitative training and physical therapy provide some relief – physically, at least.

In the hospital, she was examined from head to toe – and the results were shocking.
“The doctor found issues everywhere,” Janine says. “She told me, ‘That’s bad, and that, and this too.’ They wanted me to stay. I had this mixture of fear and hope that maybe I could still keep going, so I didn’t stay. But now I have these new diagnoses – two rare, incurable autoimmune diseases – hanging over me like a dark cloud.”

One diagnosis is already confirmed; she’s still waiting for the second.
“There’s so much I’m only just now learning to deal with. And more may come. My lungs could also be affected. It could flare up at any time. The illnesses start with the skin. I always have blue hands and fingers. But they can also attack internal organs. If that happens, my lifespan will be shortened. Maybe only 10 to 15 years left.”

No one knows when life will end – but waiting for an illness to take hold is incredibly hard.

“Walking helps me sort my thoughts, reflect on my life, and work through it from the beginning. I’ll keep walking as long as my body lets me. Hopefully as long as I live – and love it.”

Doctors didn’t take her seriously

As a teenager, Janine sought answers for her pain – but was often dismissed by doctors. “Now it’s too late,” she says. “I just try to make the most of every day, while I still can. Sadly, I’m too sick to work. I take care of the house for my mother and brother – and I walk. I live in machine mode. I don’t have dreams or visions. But I’m still searching.”

Janine walks every single day. And with every kilometer, she carves out space – space to be who she wants to be. Space to feel herself. To work through her thoughts. And in doing so, she frees herself a little more from the weight of her past.

“Other people live normal lives – I can’t. But through walking, I’ve created a way to deal with that.”

Walking has become Janine’s lifestyle, her resilience, and her healing. It’s a journey inward – and a form of self-restoration.

About barefoot shoes

With the number of kilometers she covers each day, Janine naturally needs special shoes.
“For a while, I tried sock-style shoes – they last about 800 km. My mom said, ‘That’s quite a lot, great!’ But then we did the math – and realized that’s only two and a half weeks!”

“Now I wear barefoot shoes. They help ease the pain – but even they wear out after about two weeks. I go through 26–30 pairs a year. That’s well over €1,000 annually.
But walking less? Not an option.”

📣 This story was originally published on schermbeck-grenzenlos.de
You can read the original article here 👉 Click here