News
Fundraiser launched to cover medical costs for freediver Pim Vermeulen following heart attack
We at team Pimster have created a campaign to help our freediving coach, mentor and dear friend, Pim Vermeulen, to raise funds for an urgent heart valve replacement surgery. Pim collapsed on January 31st while boarding a plane in Berlin. He was rushed to the DRK Klinik Berlin Westend Hospital and placed in emergency care where it was determined that he had a malfunctioning aorta valve. Pim is still currently in hospital and cannot leave due to the state of his health.
Pim has been trying to get his surgery covered by his insurance company but unfortunately they will only cover the emergency costs (€5000). His surgery + rehab costs reach more than €40,000. So far he has managed to borrow partial amounts through personal loans to cover the expenses but it isn’t enough to pay for the full surgery and to cover rehab and living costs. Pim needs to raise 30,000 euro in order to get this urgent surgery. He cannot leave the hospital or return to regular life until the surgery is performed and the hospital cannot perform the surgery without full payment.
We are asking everyone who knows Pim to help us raise the €30,000 so that he can recover and get back to coaching and training the freediving community.
Pim Vermeulen is a long standing AIDA coach, instructor trainer, judge instructor and executive board member. He is also the owner / operator of IMMERSION Freediving in Dahab. Pim has always been an incredibly hard worker and a very giving person. He has coached and mentored numerous freediving students over many years and has always demonstrated a great willingness to help everyone around him. It’s our time now to help Pim.
The funds we are collecting through this campaign will help Pim undergo this very much-needed surgery and allow him to recover without undergoing any further financial stress. Pim will be unable to work for some time after surgery as he recovers and will need assistance, as well money to stay afloat until he can return to work.
We are reaching out to everyone who knows Pim, the global freediving community and all students, athletes, clients and friends of Pim, to help out and donate whatever they can to ensure that Pim receives the medical care he needs. We need him back in good health so that he can get back to what he does best; teaching freediving.
Please give what you can. Every bit is much appreciated.
Thank you.
If you want to help Pim, you can donate here.
Over the next 12 months, specialist scuba holiday company Dive Worldwide will be supporting Bite-Back Shark & Marine Conservation with donations collected from client bookings to any one of its stunning dive destinations around the world. The independently-owned operator expects to raise £3000 for the UK charity.
Manager at Dive Worldwide, Phil North, said: “We’re especially excited to work with Bite-Back and support its intelligent, creative and results-driven campaigns to end the UK trade in shark products and prompt a change in attitudes to the ocean’s most maligned inhabitant.”
Bite-Back is running campaigns to hold the media to account on the way it reports shark news along with a brand new nationwide education programme. Last year the charity was credited for spearheading a UK ban on the import and export of shark fins.
Campaign director at Bite-Back, Graham Buckingham, said: “We’re enormously grateful to Dive Worldwide for choosing to support Bite-Back. The company’s commitment to conservation helps set it apart from other tour operators and we’re certain its clients admire and respect that policy. For us, the affiliation is huge and helps us look to the future with confidence we can deliver against key conservation programmes.”
To launch the fundraising initiative, Phil North presented Graham Buckingham with a cheque for £1,000.
Visit Dive Worldwide to discover its diverse range of international scuba adventures and visit Bite-Back to learn more about the charity’s campaigns.
MORE INFORMATION
Call Graham Buckingham on 07810 454 266 or email graham@bite-back.com
Free Octopus with every purchase of a SCUBAPRO regulator system
Just in time for the spring season, divers can save money with the FREE OCTOPUS SPRING PROMOTION! Until July 31st SCUBAPRO offers an Octopus for free
with every purchase of a regulator system!
Get a free S270 OCTOPUS with purchase of these combinations:
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with A700
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with S620Ti
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with D420
MK25 EVO Din mit S620Ti-X
Get a free R105 OCTOPUS with purchase of the following combinations:
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with G260
MK25 EVO or MK17 EVO with S600
SCUBAPRO offers a 30-year first owner warranty on all regulators, with a revision period of two years or 100 dives. All SCUBAPRO regulators are of course certified according to the new European test standard EN250-2014.
Available at participating SCUBAPRO dealers. Promotion may not be available in all regions. Find an authorized SCUBAPRO Dealer at scubapro.com.
More information available on www.scubapro.com.
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