Hi, my name is Katelijne, some of you do know me.

In 2015, just 10 days before graduating from the MA Directing Documentary programme at the National Film and Television School (NFTS), I sustained a spinal cord injury in a sailing accident in the Caribbean. I was told that I would never walk again.

The day after the accident, I began filming what was happening to me. That footage became the starting point for my documentary Breaking Waves, an intimate film about the accident, my rehabilitation and the years that followed.

After my initial rehabilitation, I travelled to the United States to pursue Activity-Based Therapy (ABT), an intensive approach to spinal cord injury rehabilitation that was still scarcely available in Europe at the time. I made remarkable progress and my experience ultimately inspired me to bring ABT to the Netherlands. After years of work, I took the initiative to establish the country’s first Activity-Based Therapy centre in Amsterdam, giving others with spinal cord injuries and neurological conditions access to the kind of rehabilitation I had found in the US.

This September, 16th, I will return to NFTS for a special screening of Breaking Waves, where I will present the film and reunite with students, staff and old friends at the school.

Getting from Amsterdam to the UK, however, is no longer a simple journey. I am a wheelchair user and need to travel with two wheelchairs, my assistance dog, Louie, and luggage. Accessible travel and accommodation make the trip considerably more complicated and more expensive for me.

We have set up this GoFundMe to help cover Katelijne’s travel and accommodation costs and make it possible for her to return to NFTS and share the film that began at such a pivotal moment in her life.

Any money raised beyond her actual travel and accommodation expenses will be donated to Neurokinex, a UK charity providing specialist rehabilitation and exercise programmes for people living with paralysis.

Any contribution, however small, will help make this trip possible for Katelijne and will be very gratefully received.

Thank you so much,

Katelijne and friends

If you want to attend the screening, please contact Sandra