Hairdresser Tanja fights for a standing wheelchair: Hope for a return to work!

Hairdresser Tanja fights for a standing wheelchair: Hope for a return to work!

Tanja Jacobi, a 51-year-old master hairdresser from Elters, is facing a big challenge. After back surgery in October 2023, she is dependent on a wheelchair and has not been able to walk since then. Despite these difficult circumstances, she uses social media to bring her situation into focus and garner support from her community. Her ambitions to work as a hairdresser and to make her salon 'Hairreinwalked', which she opened in 2017, barrier-free again, testify to her unbroken will to live.

However, the pension insurance company rejected her application to cover the costs of a standing wheelchair, which costs around 13,000 euros. That decision came after she was deemed “too severely disabled.” The VdK, which supports them legally, has filed a lawsuit. The process is currently ongoing and Jacobi remains positive despite the setbacks.

Community support

In an impressive act of solidarity, family, friends and the community launched a fundraising campaign. They collected several thousand euros to help Tanja Jacobi purchase a standing wheelchair and make her salon barrier-free. Jacobi is touched by the willingness to help she is shown.

The situation is even more challenging because she had been suffering from back pain for more than two years before having the operation. Complications arose after the first operation and she required further surgery 20 days later. Since then, she has suffered from spasticity that originates from the surgical site, while many doctors initially did not take her complaints seriously.

The way back to work

Despite the poor prognosis about being able to walk again, Tanja Jacobi is not giving up the fight to return to work. Your family doctor, Dr. Andreas Huppmann, actively supports her in her endeavors. During the Corona pandemic she had to temporarily close her salon, but her goal of redesigning the hair salon and getting back to active work remains firmly in her sights.

Although the path is rocky and full of obstacles, Tanja Jacobi shows that determination and the support of the community make you strong. Your example is a powerful testimony to courage and hope in difficult times.