{"id":12749,"date":"2024-03-20T10:38:07","date_gmt":"2024-03-20T09:38:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kaks.hb-dev.de\/ueber-uns\/wer-wir-sind\/sebastian\/"},"modified":"2024-09-27T15:47:48","modified_gmt":"2024-09-27T13:47:48","slug":"sebastian","status":"publish","type":"team","link":"https:\/\/kinderaugenkrebsstiftung.de\/en\/ueber-uns\/wer-wir-sind\/sebastian\/","title":{"rendered":"Sebastian"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"12749\" class=\"elementor elementor-12749 elementor-4068\" data-elementor-settings=\"{&quot;ha_cmc_init_switcher&quot;:&quot;no&quot;}\" data-elementor-post-type=\"team\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-baa5970 e-flex e-con-boxed elementor-invisible e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"baa5970\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\" data-settings=\"{&quot;animation&quot;:&quot;fadeIn&quot;,&quot;_ha_eqh_enable&quot;:false}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-15332d6 elementor-widget elementor-widget-ha-breadcrumbs happy-addon ha-breadcrumbs happy-addon-pro\" data-id=\"15332d6\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"ha-breadcrumbs.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<ul class=\"ha-breadcrumbs\"><li class=\"ha-breadcrumbs-item ha-breadcrumbs-start\"><a href=\"https:\/\/kinderaugenkrebsstiftung.de\/en\/\" rel=\"home\"><span class=\"ha-breadcrumbs-text\"><span class=\"ha-breadcrumbs-home-icon\"><span class=\"fas fa-home\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-303e1248 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"303e1248\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\" data-settings=\"{&quot;_ha_eqh_enable&quot;:false}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-13083503 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"13083503\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\" data-settings=\"{&quot;_ha_eqh_enable&quot;:false}\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-76902662 elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-ha-post-title happy-addon ha-post-title\" data-id=\"76902662\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"ha-post-title.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"ha-post-title elementor-size-default\">Sebastian<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-7325d541 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"7325d541\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\" data-settings=\"{&quot;_ha_eqh_enable&quot;:false}\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3846cf8 elementor-widget elementor-widget-spacer\" data-id=\"3846cf8\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"spacer.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-spacer\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-spacer-inner\"><\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-38b49480 elementor-invisible elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"38b49480\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;_animation&quot;:&quot;fadeInUp&quot;}\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"813\" src=\"https:\/\/kinderaugenkrebsstiftung.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Mutmacher-Sebastian.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-3808\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kinderaugenkrebsstiftung.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Mutmacher-Sebastian.jpg 900w, https:\/\/kinderaugenkrebsstiftung.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Mutmacher-Sebastian-295x300.jpg 295w, https:\/\/kinderaugenkrebsstiftung.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Mutmacher-Sebastian-768x781.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5cb9ae31 elementor-widget elementor-widget-spacer\" data-id=\"5cb9ae31\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"spacer.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-spacer\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-spacer-inner\"><\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5fd85eaf elementor-invisible elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"5fd85eaf\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;_animation&quot;:&quot;fadeInUp&quot;,&quot;_animation_mobile&quot;:&quot;fadeIn&quot;,&quot;_animation_mobile_extra&quot;:&quot;fadeIn&quot;}\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>He is 50 years old and has been living with a glass eye for 49 years.<br \/>\nHappily.<br \/>\n&#8220;Life doesn&#8217;t always have two sides,&#8221; he says, but he doesn&#8217;t feel disadvantaged because of it.<br \/>\nThe Children&#8217;s Eye Cancer Foundation would like to thank a man who was diagnosed with retinoblastoma at the age of one for a very personal, wonderful account of life with a glass eye.<br \/>\n&#8220;Today, at the age of 46, I look back with a smile on my life, which I have lived with only one functioning eye.<br \/>\nMy aunt discovered a spot in my iris by chance 45 years ago and, thanks to the right doctor, I was quickly admitted to Essen Hospital.<br \/>\nThere I was diagnosed with a fast-growing retinoblastoma, which was developing in both directions, i.e. also in the direction of the optic nerve.<br \/>\nMy left eye was removed within a day and from then on I lived with a glass eye.       <\/p>\n<p>I first became aware of this disability when I was five years old from a photo.<br \/>\nI looked at it from bottom to top and noticed the unequal position of the eyes.<br \/>\nMy mother explained the situation to me as best she could and I was happy with it, without actually being able to understand it properly.<br \/>\nMy eyes moved differently to other children, I was aware of this, but as my glass eye also moved a little due to the remaining muscles, nobody really noticed and the &#8220;silver eye&#8221; was accepted.   <\/p>\n<p>That was probably the best thing that could have happened to me, because I never felt disadvantaged or even handicapped back then.<br \/>\nEspecially in sport, I tried everything during my school years, the more dangerous the better.<br \/>\nFor me, it was always about the certificate of honor and success.<br \/>\nI was particularly fond of ball sports.<br \/>\nI played tennis and handball with great interest from the age of seven and never had the feeling that I couldn&#8217;t hit or catch a ball.    <\/p>\n<p>My teammates were never aware of my disability and I was integrated into the team with all rights and duties.<br \/>\nThere were never any extra sausages &#8211; why should there have been? <\/p>\n<p>I had unconsciously learned to compensate for my lack of three-dimensional vision.<br \/>\nMy brain compensates for this in a way that still fascinates me today.<br \/>\nTechnically, I should see the world in front of me like a photograph, but that&#8217;s not the case.<br \/>\nI even enjoy watching 3D movies, but I only need these silly glasses to remove the shadows of the movie.   <\/p>\n<p>However, at a dinner my parents gave for friends, I had to learn the limits of my &#8220;physics&#8221;. We children were assigned to serve and I was supposed to pour more wine. As an eight-year-old, I felt a little uncomfortable with the task, but I didn&#8217;t let on and diligently poured more wine. However, it came as it had to and of course I spilled the wine on a lady because I couldn&#8217;t pour the glass with the experience I had today. The chain reaction that followed, the glass falling over etc., made me leave the room ashamed. I never wanted anything like that again. Nowadays, I either use the shadows of the glass and bottle to &#8220;hit&#8221; or, contrary to etiquette, I rest the neck of the bottle briefly on the glass. Most people don&#8217;t even notice.<\/p>\n<p>When I was 13, I went to boarding school due to my parents&#8217; separation.<br \/>\nFrom then on, the world of sport really opened up to me and I also developed a certain manual skill.<br \/>\nHowever, volleyball, field hockey, squash and skiing became my favorite sports.<br \/>\nI was an average student, not really good but not really bad either.<br \/>\nBut I excelled at sport and, ambitious as I was &#8211; and still am &#8211; I always tried to be the best.<br \/>\nI learned by intuition and by copying the better ones, which helped me to become the school champion in various disciplines.<br \/>\nAt the same time, my extremely sharp eyesight helped me with difficult work such as model making or other things.      <\/p>\n<p>During puberty, the opposite sex also became increasingly important to me.<br \/>\nAt first I repressed it or compensated for it with sport, but at the age of 15, my first girlfriend brought an obvious interest.<br \/>\nBut something changed.<br \/>\nI began to feel ashamed of my missing eye.<br \/>\nI found myself trying to stare straight ahead during conversations or turning my head instead of my eyes.<br \/>\nThe typical questions of &#8220;why me&#8221; started to come up inside me.<br \/>\nI was recognized in the community, but somehow I was also a loner.<br \/>\nWas it me or my glass eye?<br \/>\nI ignored the odd comment with feigned aplomb, but somehow the situation annoyed me.<br \/>\nMy girlfriend at the time never said a word about it.         <\/p>\n<p>In addition to sport, which was still the most interesting part of boarding school for me, I was increasingly given responsibility for younger pupils.<br \/>\nThis involved tutoring on the boarding school wing, but also responsibility in so-called services.<br \/>\nAs I had also started surfing at the same time and thus refreshed my sailing skills from my early childhood, I was quickly entrusted with the nautical service.<br \/>\nI really enjoyed training and leading this group.<br \/>\nI loved the water, and on the one hand I enjoyed the development of my fellow students while sailing &#8211; but on the other hand I also noticed a certain satisfaction in the leadership demands that the service inevitably entailed.<br \/>\nWithin a short period of time, I passed all kinds of sailing licenses, from the A license to the sport boat license and BR license.<br \/>\nUnfortunately, my &#8220;disability&#8221; caught up with me a little here, as I was not allowed to pull water skiers.<br \/>\nThere are worse things and besides, I much prefer to hang on the back and slash the waves&#8230;       <\/p>\n<p>After a year abroad in Canada, I actively started gymnastics in the twelfth grade.<br \/>\nWe were a close-knit group of boys, all more or less talented, but with great enthusiasm and a grinder for a teacher.<br \/>\nHe had the ability to push me &#8220;to the limit&#8221; and train me.<br \/>\nAs I had a strong ambition to be better than the others anyway, possibly due to my one-eyed nature, he pushed me to really perform at my best.<br \/>\nThis affected both my physical abilities and my mental strength at the time.<br \/>\nOn the physical side, coordination was not a component of vision for me, but of body control, and so I went through the exercises on parallel bars, high bar, rings and floor without mercy.     <\/p>\n<p>Alongside gymnastics, squash was one of my favorite sports.<br \/>\nIt allowed me to completely exhaust myself in a short space of time and also mentally test my opponent.<br \/>\nI loved these situations.<br \/>\nI compensated for the lack of visual angles by turning my head quickly.<br \/>\nOf course, this was playing with fire as I wasn&#8217;t wearing eye protection.<br \/>\nI was aware of the risk but, as so often, ambition got the better of me.<br \/>\nI remained faithful to this sport throughout my studies and only withdrew from it when I noticed signs of wear and tear in my back.<br \/>\nSince then, my &#8220;old&#8221; favorite sports from childhood &#8211; skiing in winter, windsurfing and sailing in summer &#8211; as well as sufficient fitness training have kept me going.<br \/>\nWhen skiing in particular, I&#8217;ve noticed that I&#8217;m relying more and more on my hearing as well as my sight and that I mainly look for the left edge of the slope if I can&#8217;t be found somewhere between the trees in the deep snow.<br \/>\nSnowboarding became a particular challenge as I can&#8217;t avoid a certain blind spot.<br \/>\nAs I didn&#8217;t want to do without it, I skied as anti-cyclically as possible in order to have clear slopes and enjoy carving.          <\/p>\n<p>Of course, I was also a car fan when I was young.<br \/>\nI drove a moped from the age of sixteen and passed my driving test at school without any complaints.<br \/>\nEstimating distances is no problem at all for me and thanks to my good reaction time, I have been driving accident-free to this day.<br \/>\nMy tendency to speed was gradually taken away from me by &#8220;Flensburg&#8221; and today I think I am a reasonably defensive driver (my wife probably thinks differently&#8230;).<br \/>\nI look over my shoulder a little more than other drivers and I notice that I use all my mirrors more often.<br \/>\nOverall, however, I &#8220;somehow&#8221; compensate for my lack of spatial vision and the only time I feel uncomfortable in the car is in heavy snowfall or rain.     <\/p>\n<p>The &#8220;hothouse&#8221; boarding school ended with an excellent sports Abitur and another &#8220;satisfactory&#8221; in the Abitur.<br \/>\nSo my priorities were clear.<br \/>\nAfter several internships, I went on to study at university in Munich.<br \/>\nAt the beginning, my studies were not very well balanced between serious studying and sustained partying and I kept tipping over to the partying side.<br \/>\nTogether with my best friend, who is still my best friend today, we moved into a legendary apartment and enjoyed student life to the full.<br \/>\nGradually, however, I began to understand the &#8220;seriousness of life&#8221;: I didn&#8217;t stop partying or doing sports, but gradually I became a little more aware of the seriousness of life.<br \/>\nWe still went on surfing trips and did sports, but everything was a little more focused on succeeding at university.<br \/>\nMy girlfriend gradually became my constant companion and pushed me in the right direction.<br \/>\nShe gave me support and self-confidence and tried to stop me from doing anything too stupid.<br \/>\nShe accepted me as I was, with all my faults, and showed me a certain care for my eyesight.<br \/>\nMy visits to the ophthalmologist and to Augen M\u00fcller&amp;S\u00f6hne in Wiesbaden became a little more regular than before.<br \/>\nShe has been my wife and the mother of my two sons for almost 24 years now.<br \/>\nBoth children were examined extremely frequently for retinoblastoma at Essen University Hospital, as we didn&#8217;t want to take any risks.<br \/>\nOf course, this involved considerable effort, as babies don&#8217;t like flying from Munich to D\u00fcsseldorf on an empty stomach, let alone keeping still for the whole morning.<br \/>\nLike me at the time, they were examined under general anesthesia.<br \/>\nThey were and are free of any findings.<br \/>\nHopefully nothing will change now that they are sixteen and twenty years old.<br \/>\nIn any case, the screening has been completed years ago.<br \/>\nMy tumor still physically exists &#8211; but it was fixed in formalin, so the genetic examination could not rule out heredity with certainty.                  <\/p>\n<p>After my honors degree, I was drawn to a large consultancy and, thanks to my qualifications on both the technical and business side, logistics became my area of expertise.<br \/>\nOnce again, my ambition was the driving force and within eight years I went from a small consultant to Vice President.<br \/>\nThe high level of mobility and, above all, the frequent flying and the associated bad air irritate my eyes immensely.<br \/>\nI have almost chronic conjunctivitis and eye drops are a constant companion.<br \/>\nAs I&#8217;m not overly careful about cleaning my glass eye, practically never take it out and a quick rub with the palm of my hand replaces the antiseptic, lint-free cloth, I have to live with a certain amount of irritation.<br \/>\nMy vanity notices the minimal drooping of the lid over the eye when I get tired.<br \/>\nThis occurred and still occurs mainly in the evening and is due to the lack of tear film, which I combat with artificial tears from time to time.<br \/>\nIn addition, I am not getting any younger and have only recently bought the first pair of glasses of my life for the coming age-related presbyopia (apart from about 100 pairs of sunglasses, which I love in every shape and form&#8230;).       <\/p>\n<p>Today, at the age of 50, I look back on my life with a smile and thank God, my aunt and the doctors for giving me my sight, because I love life.<br \/>\nDisadvantaged?<br \/>\nI don&#8217;t think so!&#8221;  <\/p>\n<p>Sebastian<br \/>Encourager<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2c577e69 elementor-widget elementor-widget-spacer\" data-id=\"2c577e69\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"spacer.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-spacer\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-spacer-inner\"><\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1caa9d78 elementor-invisible elementor-widget elementor-widget-ha-post-navigation happy-addon ha-post-navigation\" data-id=\"1caa9d78\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;_animation&quot;:&quot;fadeInUp&quot;}\" data-widget_type=\"ha-post-navigation.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t        <div class=\"ha-post-navigator\">\n            <div class=\"ha-post-navigator__prev ha-post-navigator__link\">\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/kinderaugenkrebsstiftung.de\/en\/ueber-uns\/wer-wir-sind\/maximilian\/\" rel=\"prev\"><span class=\"ha-post-navigator__link__prev\"><span class=\"post-navigation__prev--label\">Back<\/span><span class=\"post-navigation__prev--title\">Maximilian<\/span><\/span><\/a>            <\/div>\n                        <div class=\"ha-post-navigator__next ha-post-navigator__link\">\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/kinderaugenkrebsstiftung.de\/en\/ueber-uns\/wer-wir-sind\/stefan\/\" rel=\"next\"><span class=\"ha-post-navigator__link__next\"><span class=\"post-navigation__next--label\">Next<\/span><span class=\"post-navigation__next--title\">Stefan<\/span><\/span><\/a>            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"featured_media":3808,"template":"","categories":[94],"class_list":["post-12749","team","type-team","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-encourager-m"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kinderaugenkrebsstiftung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/team\/12749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kinderaugenkrebsstiftung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/team"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kinderaugenkrebsstiftung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/team"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kinderaugenkrebsstiftung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/team\/12749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kinderaugenkrebsstiftung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kinderaugenkrebsstiftung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kinderaugenkrebsstiftung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}