100ProtiBezmoci - charity walk: 100 km in 24 hours
It started with an innocent personal challenge. An effort to find out where my own limits lie, and an attempt to walk 100, and later 200 kilometers, in one go. During those dozens of hours on the trail in the cold, rain, and with blistered feet, I hit absolute rock bottom. I found out what it's like when the mind wants to keep going, but the body simply refuses to move any further. When every additional step requires immense effort, which is ultimately replaced by helplessness. Thanks to a suitable environment, 100ProtiBezmoci allows every walker to expand their own boundaries and experience something unforgettable.
While for the walkers on the trail, this immense effort and subsequent inability to take a step is just a temporary state they will sleep off by tomorrow, for patients with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), it is a daily and irreversible reality. It is a disease that gradually disconnects the brain from the muscles, leaving a healthy mind trapped in a motionless body.
It was exactly from this powerful experience on the trail that the 100ProtiBezmoci project was born.
The challenge to walk 100 kilometers in 24 hours is not a race. It is a march, a profound personal experience, and a test of willpower; it’s not about who finishes first, as there is no winner's podium. Our mission is to come together, push ourselves to the absolute limit, and dedicate this immense freedom of movement to those who are irreversibly losing it. The point is to cover the distance together. Whether you walk with us on the trail in Klánovice or stand up to helplessness from a distance, your financial donation makes a tremendous difference.
All proceeds go directly to the organization ALSA z.s., which is often the only pillar of support for hundreds of patients in the Czech Republic. What exactly can your money provide?
- 25,000 CZK = 4 months of physiotherapy for 1 patient: There is no cure for ALS. Regular physiotherapy is therefore absolutely crucial—it helps strengthen respiratory muscles, relieves pain, and demonstrably extends the quality of life.
- 50,000 CZK = 1 MOTOmed: A home exercise device that the organization lends to patients' homes so they can regularly exercise their limbs, thereby delaying the loss of mobility.
- 75,000 CZK = 1 TOBII eye communicator: In the later stages of the disease, patients lose their speech. An eye tracker is often the very last option for them to communicate their wishes and needs to those around them, or to say "I love you."
- 100,000 CZK = Complete setup (communicator + PC): Technology that gives the patient their "voice" back.
- 250,000 CZK = Electric wheelchair: An absolute necessity for maintaining at least partial independence and mobility. Every wheelchair must be custom-fitted exactly to the deteriorating body.
You don't have to walk 100 kilometers and endure physical pain to become a fighter against helplessness. Every contribution to the fundraiser, even the smallest one, sends a clear message to ALS patients that they are not alone in their hardest fight. Your support brings hope where the body fails.
We connect the heart, mind, and movement. Because as long as we can walk, we have the power to help.
Are you interested in the full personal story of overcoming obstacles that led to this challenge? Read it in the detailed description!
It started with an innocent challenge to walk 100 kilometers in 24 hours, when one day I asked my brother to drive me to Kutná Hora and I just gave it a try. After a nighttime encounter with wild boars and overcoming my own shyness to ask strangers for water, the magical 100 km appeared on my watch. In the hardest moments, when I thought all was lost and I wouldn't make it, my friends helped me. When I repeated the challenge with friends who didn't let me down, I understood the immense power of shared effort and the joy of a shared experience. So, I had 2x 100 km in 24 hours under my belt.
"So you want to walk 200 km in 48 hours?" You can imagine the look on my mom's face when I announced it to her, especially as someone with long-standing knee problems. I was driven by the strong emotion in her eyes and the desire to see it through so she wouldn't have to worry about me anymore, and wouldn't be sad about my further failed attempts—which, unfortunately, is exactly what ended up happening.
I hit the trail, but exhaustion began to take a cruel toll. Along the way, I experienced and saw many things, not all of which were real. At 3 AM, right before Troja, after walking 180 km, I spoke up close to some guys who looked absolutely real from a distance, only to find out I was talking to thin air. Around 4 AM by the planetary system model, I thought I was chatting with DJ Khaled, although it was obviously just glowing Jupiter. The stairs right before the Holešovice train station ultimately sealed my fate. After 186 kilometers, I sat down on them and couldn't get back up. My body was in absolute shock. I called my mom and cried—not just from the pain, but from the realization that this fight was far from over for me. More unsuccessful attempts followed, full of blisters, May frosts, and exhaustion, which forced me to find another way. Unfortunately, as luck would have it, I failed three times; after the first promising 186 km came attempts of 178 km and 158 km. I thought I just didn't have it in me, that the energy I could give to the challenge had completely drained out of me.
And then Klánovice came into play.
The Klánovice circuit solved the physical problems—soft forest paths relieved my knees, and a central hub allowed me to keep all my gear in one place. Above all, however, it showed me the most important thing: the power of a shared experience. Suddenly, this story was no longer about my 200 kilometers. It was about the people who went into it together. I discovered what immense meaning it brings when you can lean on each other through the pain and fatigue. Jura walked and suffered through the first 100 kilometers with me; together, we finished it in 21.5 hours. During the second 100 kilometers, Milada literally saved me. My legs were so exhausted that I couldn't lift them over the terrain, and she became my eyes—she warned me about every root the whole way so I wouldn't fall, because whenever she didn't, I fell. It was incredibly lucky that, for the first time in all my attempts, I was walking with trekking poles. But there were also other walkers around us, bravely fighting the helplessness of their own bodies and pushing their boundaries. Together we formed a fellowship of the ring—or rather, a fellowship of blisters :D The shared pain, support, and the will not to give up connected more or less unknown people and created an experience with far greater value than just the distance conquered.
We chose all this agony on the trail and the inability to take another step voluntarily. We could have given up at any time, laid down, and walked normally the next day. But imagine that your mind wants to keep running, yet your body won't take another step, and this immense effort is replaced by absolute helplessness. For patients with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), this is a daily and irreversible reality. It is a disease that gradually disconnects the brain from the muscles, leaving a healthy mind trapped in a motionless body.
That is why the 100ProtiBezmoci project was created.
We want to allow people to expand their own boundaries of willpower, experience the immense strength of a community, and through physical exhaustion, gain a deeper understanding for patients with ALS. It’s not about running the route or racing to arrive first. It’s about overcoming oneself and, through a joint effort, supporting those whose bodies are failing them.
All proceeds from our challenge go directly to the organization ALSA z.s., which is a vital pillar of support for 250 families of ALS patients in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Your support makes a huge difference, and together with ALSA we have set specific milestones for how the money from the fundraiser will realistically help:
- 25,000 CZK = 4 months of physiotherapy for 1 patient: There is no cure for ALS. Regular physiotherapy is absolutely crucial—it helps strengthen respiratory muscles, relieves pain, and demonstrably extends the quality of life.
- 50,000 CZK = 1 MOTOmed: A device for home exercise that helps patients regularly exercise their limbs, thereby delaying the loss of mobility.
- 75,000 CZK = 1 TOBII eye communicator: In the later stages of the disease, an eye tracker is often the last option for patients to communicate their wishes and needs to those around them.
- 100,000 CZK = Complete setup (communicator + PC): Technology that gives the patient their "voice" back.
- 250,000 CZK = Electric wheelchair: An absolute necessity to maintain at least partial independence, always custom-fitted exactly to the deteriorating body.
We connect the heart, mind, and movement, because as long as we can walk, we have the power to help.
This whole journey and the challenge itself would never have come about without my friend Kuba, who originally came up with the idea of walking 100 kilometers. From this innocent idea and the incredibly powerful shared experience in Klánovice, our organizing team was ultimately born: Jura, Milada, Šimon, Radek, and Martin. Together, we decided to pass this experience on.
Thank you for standing up to helplessness with us. Whether on the starting line or through a contribution to the challenge.
Amyotrofická laterální skleróza je nevyléčitelné onemocnění postihující postupně nervosvalové buňky celého těla. Pacient postupně -v průběhu dvou až pěti let - přichází o jemnou motoriku, mý problémy schůzí až je v závěru upoután na lůžko bez možnosti jakéhokoliv pohybu, tj. i mluvení, polykání, dýchání. Jediné co stále funguje je mozek!
ALS u nás trpí zhruba 800 lidí, ročně se objeví téměř 300 nových nemocných a stejný počet jich za rok zemře. Onemocnění si nevybírá slabé jedince s podlomeným zdravím, často sahá po lidech na vrcholu sil a tvůrčího potenciálu, častěji muže než ženy. Příčina onemocnění není známa.
Nemoc postupuje rychle, a když potřební standartním způsobem požádají pojišťovnu o určitou pomůcku, často se stává, že v okamžiku, kdy je jim přiznána, už ji nepotřebují, protože nemoc postoupila dál. Pacienti s ALS potřebují pravidelné rehabilitace, přístroje na vykašlávání, dlahy na protahování končetin… a především drahé komunikační prostředky, které jim po ztrátě řeči a schopnosti ovládat končetiny pomohou sdělit svým bližním, co je trápí – potřebují to rychle, teď, dnes, zítra, ne za měsíc či dva. Mentální schopnosti nemocných přitom zůstávají nezměněné. O to ostřeji si svou bezmoc uvědomují a jejich potřeba zůstat v kontaktu se svým okolím je tomu přímo úměrná.
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