For Rens Weitering, King’s Day yesterday in Emmen was different from all previous years. Not just because of the royal visit or because of his granddaughter Kirsten Alting’s performance as children’s mayor. Weitering suffered a mild concussion after a falling pole hit his head. “I said to the doctor: ‘Whatever you want, I’m going to my granddaughter’.”
Ready for his granddaughter’s big day, Weitering walked through Emmen early yesterday morning. “I was walking with my daughter and granddaughter past a bus shelter and there was a pole against it. It fell over, but I didn’t see that.” The pole hit Weitering’s head, causing him to collapse and briefly lose consciousness. “My daughter caught me. My granddaughter panicked.”
After emergency services arrived, Weitering urged his granddaughter to continue walking. After all, an important task awaited her: welcoming the king. Weitering was taken to hospital by ambulance. “I was examined there and it turned out that I had suffered a mild concussion.”
The doctor’s advice is clear: rest and spend the day at home. But Weitering doesn’t agree with that. “My granddaughter has only been children’s mayor once and the king is now in Emmen. So that turned into a long conversation and a rebuttal from me. I said: ‘Whatever you want, I will go to my granddaughter’.”
“They then examined me carefully and if I felt reasonably well and took paracetamol, I was still allowed to check on my granddaughter.” Weitering is overjoyed that he was able to see how Kirsten fared. “Kirsten comes to visit us a lot and I really wanted to see her. She was so panicky and I wanted her to see that I was doing well.”
Despite the accident, Weitering looks back on a beautiful King’s Day. “It was so nice to see my granddaughter, beautiful. And I was well received and helped by bystanders.”
When Weitering returns home, he should really rest and keep a close eye on himself, the doctor advised him. “I have to be woken up every two hours. I’m going to go on the couch later.”
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