Natasja Froger on Mont Ventoux in Tour du ALS: 'I said goodbye to my girlfriend a week and a half ago'

'21 kilometers on that idiot of a mountain, but everything for Monique and money for ALS research.' With that fanatic attitude, Natasja Froger will climb the Mont Ventoux in France today. Her thoughts will be with her good friend 'Moon' during the thirteenth Tour du ALS. She passed away on May 25 from the merciless disease.

When Metro speaks to Natasja Froger, the wife of singer René has just arrived at the foot of Mont Ventoux in the South of France. On this monster of a mountain known from the Tour de France, the ALS Netherlands Foundation is organizing the Tour du ALS for cyclists, runners and hikers today (Thursday 12 June). Natasja is an ambassador for the foundation. Almost a thousand people will deliver a major sporting performance, as will seventeen people with ALS (a record). Their motto: 'Together we will kick ALS out of the world', a wish that is not yet possible. A lot of money is needed for research and the 2025 counter was already at 1.9 million on Tuesday. The highest yield, more than 2 million last year, seems to be broken.

You can see images from 2024 in the video above.

With such a serious subject, you might expect a somewhat stuffy atmosphere on the mountain, but nothing could be further from the truth. Natasja Froger knows what she is talking about, she is running her fifth Tour du ALS. “The atmosphere is good and beautiful. I always say: this is the most beautiful event that should actually be unnecessary. But unfortunately, it is still necessary. In the meantime, we are trying to make something beautiful out of it, but above all to ask for a lot of attention and raise money. There has to be a medicine, there has to be hope for people with ALS. That hope is still not there.”

Campaigns about the debilitating disease are impressive, because patients always play a role in it. Sometimes when they are no longer there.

Natasja Froger hopes that today's proceeds can be "nicely tapped at 2 million". "That would be so nice, but I am already grateful for every euro."

She will think a lot about her friend Monique during the hike up the mountain. “We had her funeral service a week and a half ago, she was only 38 years old. There was no hope for Monique, which is incredibly bitter. I walked the previous four editions of the Tour du ALS with her and now I am only walking with a T-shirt with a picture of her on it. Now her husband and all her dear friends are going up Mont Ventoux with her. Monique would have wanted it that way and that is how we should continue to do it. She said: 'I am 38 and I am going to lose without hope, but ALS must become a disease with hope'. If it becomes a treatable disease, that would be so nice.”

Natasja calls her friend "the strongest, most powerful power woman you've ever met". "Moon was admirably strong until the very last day. She passed away on May 25 and on May 24 we sat in her garden. We texted her during the night and the morning of her death. She was happy until the very last minute, never bitter. When you asked her 'aren't you angry that it's happening to you', Monique replied 'why not me? There are so many people who suffer this fate'. She called ALS bad luck and that she had drawn the unlucky card."

That bad luck does mean a death sentence, Natasja Froger knows. "That's why many ALS patients turn that terrible news into strength. Like 'we have to do something about this'. They commit themselves, so that their disease has had some use. In this way they hope to still be able to contribute something for the future. Moon told us that too. 'Don't let it stop here. Fight on together in the hope that a medicine will one day come.' Monique was told in 2021 that she was ill. She recently realized that the disease was going to win over her. Then she decided that before it got worse, she wanted to determine her own end with dignity. Powerful, very powerful."

The first tears came to Natasja Froger when she arrived at the mountain. "That's okay. But Moon's motto was 'celebrate life and get the most out of it, because nobody knows what tomorrow will bring'. That's what we're going to do. René once wrote the song Vier Het Leven with Thomas Acda, who is also an ambassador. That will be used during Tour du ALS and has become the motto of the event: 'Celebrate life, while you still can'. We're going to do that during the walk, with a laugh and a tear. Afterwards, René and Thomas will sing the song like they do every year."

Natasja is well trained and fit, so she will definitely reach that finish on top of the Mont Ventoux. "Yes, of course. Two years ago I ran it with double pneumonia. Then it was like 'go for it, Tas', that was tougher. The running is going well, but emotionally it is just very hard. However, we will continue until ALS is no longer a death sentence."

Anyone who would like to know more about the Tour du ALS or would like to sponsor Natasja Froger and other participants can visit the organisation's website .

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