Pure Calmund
When he talks about his daughter, he fights back tears
Reiner Calmund at the 25th RTL donation marathon, November 2020
© Getty Images
In his early 60s, Reiner Calmund became a father again. Together with his wife Sylvia, he adopted little Nisha from Thailand. When he talks about his daughter today, emotions overwhelm him.
The road to adoption was not an easy one, as Reiner Calmund, 72, recalls. Hard times lie behind him and his wife Sylvia, 50. Your wish to have a child of your own should remain unfulfilled.
Reiner Calmund: "She had many problems, miscarriages"
"Sylvia is my greatest stroke of luck. She has a huge heart, is kind to me, to the family. But there was a bitter history: She had many problems, miscarriages," he says in the Sky documentary "My Story". The couple have tried artificial insemination eight times. "The doctors were worried about Sylvia."
On vacation in Thailand, however, Reiner and Sylvia Calmund met a little girl in the orphanage. "At some point the director of the orphanage came and said: Whenever her wife comes, Nisha runs to her and wants to poke her. That was something moving," the 72-year-old recalls eight years later.
Emigration not excluded
Although the former Bundesliga manager and his wife decided to adopt, it was to be a long way. Still, "Calli" says it was her best decision. The couple did not even rule out emigration, it was so determined. "We said: If that doesn't work, we will stay in Thailand as foster parents. We will no longer hand the child over to the orphanage. Then we would have emigrated."
That little Nisha, 10, was classified as "actually not adoptable, as a 'special need' child, as a child with special needs" did not make it any easier. All the greater is the joy that the adoption finally worked. "This is happiness that we see, feel and feel every day," he says.
"That goes deep under the skin"
When the moderator Riccardo Basile, 29, asks him what he thinks where the little girl would be now if he and his wife hadn't brought her, Reiner Calmund's emotions overwhelmed him, even asking for a break. "When I see the nursery, our life with Nisha, then I have to say something nasty: I'm actually very happy that Sylvia suffered so much and that we didn't have a biological child," he admits. "Then we wouldn't have our sweetheart, she's more than anything for me and my wife. It gets under your skin."
Sources used: Sky / "My Story", Express.de
This article originally appeared on Gala.de.