Christina Wechsel (39) has suffered three hard strokes of fate within a year: her mother died of cancer, she lost her best friend in a car accident in Australia - and she was seriously injured in the process, and lost her left leg.
The 39-year-old, who grew up in Hallbergmoos, wrote a book about this together with the journalist Julia Heyne: “If you have wings, you don't need legs” has just been published.
FT reporter Eva Oestereich spoke to Wechsel about it.
You grew up all over the world - you also spent part of your childhood in Hallbergmoos ...
I grew up quite multicultural in Montreal, we lived in Greece for a while.
When I was eight years old, we moved to Hallbergmoos because my parents built the Mövenpick Hotel here: my father Albert Wechsel as director and my mother Annamaria as HR manager.
Later she practiced as a naturopath in Hallbergmoos.
How did you get on here?
In elementary school I struggled with my accent because I didn't understand Bavarian.
But back then I had an incredibly loving neighbor who was like a grandma to me.
Thanks to her, not only bread dumplings with mushroom sauce became my favorite dish, I also learned Bavarian.
'Send the child you love on a trip.' What is this Japanese proverb about?
I saw this saying on a friend's bathroom mirror at a party.
He made something in me.
That life is about gaining experience.
It was the initial spark for planning a trip around the world.
Since then, the words have stuck to my mirror - and reminded me of them every day.
When the world tour was booked, the first stroke of fate struck her ...
I moved to Zurich at the age of 21 to work as a hotel specialist to earn the money for my trip around the world and started planning the route.
Then my mother got cancer and I put the plans on hold.
Six months later she called me, said she was healthy and that I should book the trip.
The ticket was bought when my mother had to go back to the clinic because she was feeling very bad again.
She died at the age of 57, two days after her birthday.
How did you deal with the loss?
The grief was overwhelming.
When we were sorting my mother's things, I came across her favorite book “The Alchemist” by Paolo Coelho.
It tells of a shepherd boy who goes on a journey to find treasure.
I saw it as a sign from my mommy that it would be in her best interest to realize my dream of a trip around the world.
Half a year later I went to Australia and New Zealand.
Yes, I had planned a year for it.
It all started in October 2006 ...
... and your dream trip ended in tragedy.
On the way to Ayers Rock in the Australian outback - there were four of us in the car - had a serious accident.
My very good buddy died at the scene of the accident.
I was badly injured myself.
They were in the intensive care unit for six weeks. What was that time?
The doctors fought for my life - and my leg.
I had severe internal injuries, a collapsed lung, internal injuries, a torn leg artery.
The left lower leg had to be amputated.
How did you manage to survive?
I fought out of love for my father and brother.
I can't remember it myself, but the Flying Doctors' doctor told my father what I said to him on the flight from the scene of the accident to Adelaide: He should do a good job and get me to the hospital alive.
Because my mother died of cancer before and I can't do that to my family.
What happened next?
In Australia I was in the clinic for seven weeks, then four months in Murnau.
It was about healing physically and mentally.
The questions of meaning 'Why me?
Why so soon after mum's death?
Why now when I want to make my dream come true? '
kept me very busy.
Did you find answers?
The answer is that some questions have no answer.
And it's not about what happens to you in life, but how you react to it.
The most powerful thing we have been given is our own free will.
We can choose how we want to deal with life.
I am not at the mercy of fate, but can actively change something myself.
They call their stump "little leg".
Yes.
Blunt is a term of no value.
My brother Thomas was the one in Australia who came up with the idea of calling it “little leg”.
Today you are back in sport, climbing, hiking, skiing, diving and paragliding. It seems like there are no limits for you - or is that deceptive?
My biggest motivation after the accident was to get back on my feet and walk.
You can never tell if something is possible - you have to try it out.
So you always find a way and solutions.
You have reoriented yourself professionally. Has that to do with your blows of fate?
Yes.
I am a naturopath and have my own naturopathic practice in Munich.
I accompany people who have had an amputation and suffer from phantom pain.
I suffered from it myself and tried everything possible against it.
Only alternative healing methods that I knew from my mother helped me.
Now I also accompany other affected people in hospitals as a 'peer' within the framework of the PiK project.
What motivated you to write this book?
The starting point was a women's network meeting, where I stood on stage completely unprepared and told my story.
That's when I first experienced what my story triggers in other people.
You are always looking for new challenges. What else is on your bucket list?
I'm going to be moving to Cape Town with my husband for a year this fall - it's a place that combines two things that I love so much: the mountains and the sea.
Maybe I'll write my second book there too.
Of course, Ayers Rock is still my destination.
The flight was already booked in March 2020, but then the pandemic intervened.
I will definitely still travel to this place.
It attracts me magically and is not the aboriginal holy mountain for nothing.
Good to know
Christina Wechsels book “Who has wings, doesn't need legs” has been published by HarperCollins Verlag and is available in bookshops everywhere for 16 euros.
+
Christina Wechsel's book costs 16 euros.
© Andrea Mühleck
+
Between mountains and sea: Christina Wechsel wants to settle in Cape Town for a year - and maybe also write her second book.
© Andrea Mühleck
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/TMO34TYLKQEG5UOPIQW2M742GU.jpg)
