There are topics where parents simply react differently than those without children. With seriously ill children, for example: every mother and father’s nightmare. It doesn’t even have to be your own child that is affected. The mere description of a child’s fate is enough to give fathers and mothers goosebumps. In this respect, it is all too understandable that the otherwise always amiable Holger Stromberg’s hat string breaks at some point.
The setting: a charity gala in aid of the “Kinderherzen” association, which supports children with heart disease and their families. 300 excited guests in the best summer mood, chatting, laughing and toasting in the L’Osteria in the Künstlerhaus until it’s buzzing. Only: When host John Schlüter invites you to an auction of extraordinary unique items for a good cause, the buzz just won’t stop. Even Robert Laner, the Worldchanger founder and initiator of the evening, barely penetrates the party noise with his message (“We want to bring something positive into the world and support families in need”). Project sponsor Jana Ina Zarrella, who, as a mother of two, also belongs to the group of particularly compassionate people, has no other choice. The club’s emotional film clip is also lost – there are apparently more pressing things to discuss.
Holger Stromberg sees it differently. He talked his son into buying one of his beloved football jerseys for the auction: Shkodran Mustafi’s. Not from the top shelf of the 2014 national team, but still a world champion. Before we get started, the former national team chef grabs the microphone and shouts: “There’s nothing to eat if you don’t show respect for children with heart problems for even 20 minutes! I don’t wish any of you who are still talking now sick child.” Well roared lion! And lo and behold: it works. It’s not really quiet, but at least we understand him better now: “This is an original World Cup jersey, worn in the game. Take a few euros out of your pocket!” That also works: a signed shirt is worth 700 euros to a fan. It is significant, however, that the first bid for the next auction item is submitted after a hand-timed 0.4 seconds and ultimately changes hands for a whopping 3,500 euros: two tickets for the Weißwurst party at the Stanglwirt. A high-quality racing bike, on the other hand, remains without a bid.
Finally, a few thousand euros are collected, and so we can then dine: at exactly 8:14 p.m. the first Worldchanger pizza goes out, and the chatter level increases again. In a quieter corner you meet Michael “Mimi” Kraus, the 2007 handball world champion. The man in his late thirties is now a father of four, and so he was immediately there when pizzas were supposed to be distributed to seriously ill children in the heart clinic that afternoon, “even if “It takes effort,” he admits. And then this dream man stands in front of one-and-a-half-year-old Timo, who is covered in catheters and cannulas and has already had four heart operations, sees a few Paw Patrol stickers on the boy’s arm and has a topic that distracts from all the heaviness : “His favorite character is Chase, and I said I think Rubble is cool, the little fat guy that no one else likes.” When the visitor wants to leave after a while, Timo sheds tears: “I love you. Don’t you want to stay?” And Mimi Kraus stays, of course.
Brought Timo Pizza to the heart center: Emilia Bartoeck, ex-handball professional Michael Kraus, Robert Laner.
(Photo: Michael Tinnefeld)
One of his children was also born with blue lips and low oxygen saturation. He knows what Timo and his family are going through. At home in Göppingen, Kraus runs a fitness studio and once a year he collects donations in a special way: ten euros per minute in a two-degree ice bath. “I lasted 32 minutes, was completely exhausted afterwards and thought I was the best. No way! Women are much more relaxed. One of them managed over 40 minutes! They are really tougher than us men.” But that’s another story.