About us
About To Walk Again
For more than 20 years, To Walk Again asbl has been unconditionally committed to helping children and adults with severe physical disabilities.
People with physical disabilities also deserve the same opportunities as able-bodied people. To Walk Again vzw makes opportunities possible and dreams come true. Not only at the TWA post-rehabilitation center at the AZ Herentals, where intensive rehabilitation is made possible by high-tech means, but also during the TWA summer camps for young children, we focus every day on sports, exercise and permanent rehabilitation.
To Walk Again activates people with disabilities. As a recognized volunteer organization, we support projects to help people with profound physical disabilities lead full lives and contribute to society to the maximum extent possible.
Our approach is threefold:
Increase quality of life through inclusive sports and exercise activities for children and adults.
Giving hope through research and development into high-tech rehabilitation
Maximum integration into society by supporting continuous rehabilitation & integration
Origins and history
Very soon after his life-changing accident during a training session in Lanzarote in preparation for the 2002 Ironman, Marc Herremans realized that – despite all the dreams that had come to an abrupt halt – the fact that he was still alive was a second chance he could not and would not ignore.
And so it happened. In 2006, despite his complete spinal cord injury from chest to toes, he became Ironman world champion! And many punishing and superhuman feats would follow. Marc gave paraplegia a face, hope and resilience.
Marc founded To Walk Again in 2003: a warm and hopeful initiative, based at the Sports Center in Tongerlo, where sports and exercise were offered to people with physical disabilities in a way that was accessible and accessible to all.
REVAlution Center
From the dream of being able to walk again, To Walk Again was the first to introduce the Ekso walking robot in our country in 2016. A new twist that underlies the creation of the Revaluation Center in Herentals in September 2017, with the support of the Flemish and European governments. In this post-rehabilitation center, the focus is on lifelong exercise and rehabilitation combined with high-technology.
The corona crisis in 2021 had a major impact on the operation of To Walk Again. To continue to guarantee a financially low-cost camp offering, TWA entered into a strong partnership with Sporta. The pertinent pursuit of government recognition for post-rehabilitation culminated in mid-July 2023 in the launch of a major study in collaboration with RIZIV, KUL and AZ Herentals.
Mission & Vision
Mission
To Walk Again aims to help anyone with a physical disability maximize their own potential (again) through sports and exercise. To Walk Again stands for hope, and hope makes rehabilitation possible. Which consequently also creates a tremendously liberating feeling mentally. Physical and mental exercise is in our DNA!
Vision
Get to know our ambassadors
Marc Herremans
Wout and Sarah Van Aert
