Cyclist Amy Pieters has reached a special milestone in her rehabilitation. She has made her first attempts at walking and Pieters is walking small distances with assistance and has also been able to cycle alongside each other in tandem, according to her website: “What she shows is the belief that Amy will be able to walk again!”

31-year-old Pieters fell on December 23 last year during a road training session for the national track team near Calpe, Spain. She lost consciousness and suffered severe brain damage. Pieters needed surgery and was in a coma for months.

At the end of April, her SD Worx team reported that the driver had regained consciousness. She has been working on her recovery in Woerden since August.

In June, reporter Steven Dalebout visited Amy Pieters and her family and took the following poignant portrait.

The rehabilitation is based on the principle of trial and error, as can be read in the message. Not long ago, fears of a backlash ran high after Pieters was struck down by a seizure, an abnormal discharge of nerve cells in the brain.

“Ambulance at the door and panic everywhere. The last time Amy had a seizure, she relapsed enormously. Probably because she acted well and quickly, Amy didn’t experience any bad consequences after sleeping for a long time, except fairly tiredness.”

“Sometimes we hear a word escaping from her mouth”

It’s not yet possible to speak, but the former Dutch champions are making more and more noises in the street. “Sometimes we suddenly hear a small word clearly escaping from her mouth. She doesn’t repeat it yet, but how beautiful and hopeful it is to hear her familiar voice in that spontaneously uttered word.”

“Amy sets the pace. There are days when she doesn’t want to show that again, and then another day comes when she wants to stand, walk and put in some serious effort right away. Let’s take it for granted that she decides for her own moment. And that moment will come, because suddenly she’s standing!”