A journey forever changed the life of this family

Before I experienced my personal little miracle, I was actually anything but happy. I donated stem cells some time ago. It is very, very rare to be selected as a donor, I was registered for years in the database of the DKMS when the news came. For weeks, the production of my stem cells was stimulated, my body has responded very sensitively, at the end of the syringe period, I could barely stand, sit, lie down. I could not do anything anymore. After the removal, it seemed to me, as if I had been sucked with the cells and the life energy. I felt miserable at the time.

"You are one of the lucky winners !?



One morning I brought Jannis, 9, and Joline, 11, to school. Then I drove to the gas station in Mönchengladbach. There they raffled 33 cruises, and anyone who tanked for more than 10 euros, got a lucky code, which could be registered on a website. The code I typed in the evening. And then suddenly there was: "You are one of the lucky winners !?

Until then, we had spent our holidays mostly in a holiday apartment in the Sauerland, where we take care of ourselves. On vacation it is important to us that we are together, no matter where. But we have never been abroad. And then this profit!

Where to go with the children?

The trip was only for two people. My wife Liane then googled and found out that children under the age of twelve are allowed to sleep in the parents' cabin for free. We have calculated that this is possible, the trip was in the middle of the summer holidays? High season so. For the children's flights we would have had to use our savings. But when we went to the photo shoot, where we were officially presented the cruise coupon, one of the sponsors said:? We have allowed ourselves to take the flights for the children.? I really had tears in my eyes.



Until we flew to Malta, where our cruise started, I had never sat in a plane. At 44, for the first time, I saw the clouds from above. This feeling at the start, when pressed into the seat, reminded me of my childhood. To the roller coasters on the fairgrounds. The whole body has been tingling. That's how I felt when I was in this plane. When the bus from Malta airport turned into the harbor, I still thought:

It's all just a dream or a big mistake.

The cruise ship looked like a floating skyscraper sparkling in the sun. The weeks on the ship were the worry-free weeks we've ever had. You do not get anything from the outside world anymore. It's like gliding from one world to another. We did not have to worry about anything. The ship had food around the clock. The bartenders already knew on the third evening what we wanted to drink. We did not have to worry about money because we got a ship credit card. We lay around the pool, watching the kids play around. In the evening we went to the theater or watched a musical. Seekrank was none of us. We were in luck. Liane kept saying, "Pinch me, that's too good to be true." Once Jannis sat on our balcony and pointed to something in the water. Next to us, a dolphin slid through the waves! It was like a dream.



An unforgettable journey that has changed our lives

The journey has changed our lives. What do you remember when you get older? Certainly not the TV you had, or the fridge could make ice cubes or what people otherwise afford. People grow together through what they do, and this journey has made us even more united as a family. Before that, I had a bit of a hiccup with the world and life, but since then, I believe that good things happen to good people as well. The Buddhists call this karma.

Justin's Journey - Finding a Family Connection Through Skateboarding (March 2024).