Hermientje Margriet (Miep) Kuipers (1943-2016)

Hermientje Margriet (Miep) Kuipers (1943-2016)

The great motivation and inspiration for the work that Arjan does. Miep Kuipers experienced a number of serious brain traumas at a young and middle age. This had major consequences for her functioning, especially when brainstem migraines (sometimes several times a week) occurred, and as a result she could only talk, walk and shake on the floor or couch with great difficulty. When Arjan had the choice to study medicine or chiropractic in England, he chose the latter, because the only person who could help his mother out of these situations was a chiropractor (Roland Blaauw) with a neurology specialisation. He wanted to be able to help her. Because chiropractic (1992) did not provide the right basis for understanding what was wrong with his mother, Arjan started studying applied neuroscience and functional neurology from 1994. Despite some detours, a functional neurological consultant in Norway and a strong focus on developmental problems in children, Arjan's main interest has always been finding the best solutions after brain trauma. After the death of Miep Kuipers in 2016, Arjan decided to focus solely on finding and developing better solutions for people with brain trauma. In 2017 Arjan got to know Linda Radestad, who was dealing with the consequences of a serious cerebral infarction. She had a similar experience with the lack of knowledge in regular care and had to find her own solutions for further improvement after her stroke. Soon the idea was born to set up a company that uses scientific knowledge in an innovative way to find better solutions for the consequences of brain trauma. From this Brain and Spine Rehab B.V. founded in 2019. You can say that the story of Miep Kuipers is intertwined with the DNA of Brain and Spine rehab and that she still forms the daily inspiration for what we do here for people with acquired brain injuries.