Monica Lierhaus
“Greta is my big support right now”
Monica Lierhaus likes to have her niece Greta by her side.
© Picture Alliance
Monica Lierhaus fought her way back. Consequential complications during a brain operation in 2009 had plunged the successful sports presenter into the abyss of health. Now she is fully alive again – although she counts on a loving supporter from the family circle.
14 years ago, life changed forever for Monica Lierhaus, 53. An aneurysm was to be removed from the award-winning face of the “Sportschau” during an operation. There were complications – with fatal health consequences. The journalist was in a coma for months. After that, she had to struggle to learn to speak and walk again. “I was basically completely exhausted,” she recalls today in an interview with “Bild am Sonntag”. But she fought, even worked in front of the camera from time to time in 2013. Last year, an offer from RTL: The journalist is to accompany various sporting events as a moderator. Two events have already been decided. But she will not travel there all by herself.
Monica Lierhaus is off to a great start again
“I’ll say it bluntly: These first years after the operation were brutally hard work. But it was worth it,” says Monica proudly in an interview shortly before her latest TV comeback. From June 17th she will hold the microphone in her hand at the “Special Olympics”, on June 20th she will moderate the game of the German national team against Colombia as a guest commentator with Florian König, 55.
In the past few months, Lierhaus has been on the road in terms of reporting, filming portraits of athletes all over Germany. A mammoth task for the still impaired 53-year-old. “Two years ago I finally managed to get up off the ground on my own again. Twelve years of work for just getting up, isn’t that crazy?” She sums up the ongoing struggle. Her sense of balance was severely impaired by the bleeding in the cerebellum. Free stairs still meant a difficulty for her.” Especially down. Up is still possible. It’s getting slow. But patience has never been one of my most outstanding qualities.”
Niece Greta is her support in all situations
On the other hand, Monica now has a trusted companion on her professional trips, who slows her down a little on occasion and at the same time gives her support. “Greta is my mainstay right now, not only with the logistics, with all the traveling and filming, but also mentally.” The young woman supporting Monica is her niece, her sister’s daughter.
The communications and PR student will be out and about with her aunt in the near future and make her life easier, as she promises: “I’ll clear the way for her on crowded platforms or I’ll slip her a roll if she once again lost in research on her interview partners and forgets to eat.”
“Work is the fuel that keeps me alive”
Monica, however, is certain: “Without Greta I wouldn’t be able to do all this. I am so grateful to her, she allows me to do my job perfectly. And the work is the fuel that keeps me going. My elixir of life. My head is just as fit as before, only sometimes I need Greta’s arm to hold on to.”
And Greta will be happy to be her rock in the long-awaited surf.
Source used: bild.de