Magnús Máni is a 15-year-old athletic boy who became seriously ill following a short illness in the summer of 2023. Magnús had had a high fever from time to time for 2-3 weeks, a sore throat and a cough, but nothing abnormal was found during a medical examination a week before he suddenly lost strength and all sensation from the chest down. A bacterial infection had reached all the way into the spinal cord and caused inflammation with these serious consequences. Since September 2023, he has been undergoing an extremely intensive and demanding rehabilitation. His goal from the beginning has been to recover fully, that goal has not changed and great progress have been achieved, as Magnús Máni has incredible willpower, patience and resilience. 

Unfortunately, the Icelandic healthcare system does not offer the best facilities and services in terms of rehabilitation so that he can achieve his goal, i.e. to recover fully. Latest technology devices and tools that are used in the rehabilitation that he needs are not available in Iceland. The amount of time he needs in rehabilitation per day to achieve his goal was not available, and at the same time, the necessary motivation and belief in the rehabilitation that was available was not there.

Because of this, the family has had to seek out foreign parties and go abroad with the associated disruption to family life to achieve the results that Magnús has achieved today. At the same time, this has meant a lot of expenses. Magnús Máni has started to walk with a walker and still has a lot of work to do to achieve a full recovery. In addition to the foreign parties, we were joined by excellent Icelandic physiotherapists who have proven to be extremely helpful to us.

We have gone abroad twice for long periods and will go again this summer. In January this year we went to Madrid for 10 weeks at a rehabilitation center with all the latest technology, approaches and motivation for rehabilitation that we have unfortunately not seen in the public system in Iceland. The participation of the Icelandic Health Insurance is unfortunately only a small fraction of the huge cost of this rehabilitation of Magnús and that is why we, family, friends and others are going to run for Magnús in the Reykjavík Marathon on August 23, 2025 and raise money for the rehabilitation

The Reykjavík Marathon has something for everyone. You can run in a fun run, a 10km run, a 21km run and a marathon.

Thank you

Keep going Magnús Máni!