A Spreewald business start-up inspired by its own fate

After their marriage in 2009, Steffen and Susann Radehose led a normal, inconspicuous life in the Spreewald village of Fleißdorf and went about their work. After building their own home in 2007, their daughter Lea was born two years later and now attends grammar school in Lübbenau. When their son Lino was born in 2014, everything still seemed to be going as normal, but the boy soon began to show abnormalities that caused the parents increasing concern. Susann Radehose: “Our son Lino was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy shortly before his third birthday in 2017. From then on, our world fell apart. Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a rare, incurable and rapidly progressive muscle disease that is associated with increasing muscle atrophy and ultimately leads to early death.”

In the meantime, fate had also struck for Steffen Radehose: he had to undergo several knee and hip operations, was no longer able to carry out his physically demanding work at the water and wastewater association and, in particular, was no longer able to carry his increasingly heavy son for long periods of time, especially not to the first floor of the house, into the children’s room. With the renovation of the house in 2024, also with funds from a fundraising campaign (see LR 23.12.2023), the conditions improved for everyone, but the worries about Lino remained.

Steffen Radehose: “It does something to you, you think about life in a completely different way and share in the fate of others who are going through the same thing. Because I had to give up my job, I had to reorient myself anyway and decided against this background to offer professional help to affected families.”

The enterprising Fleißdorfer, who has close ties to his native Spreewald and its history, had already organized trips in the past, always taking his son Lino in a wheelchair with him. “We want to show our son as much as possible and let him take part in life. But we also realized how incredibly difficult it can be to travel with a mobility disability,” says Steffen Radehose about his reasons for setting up his own travel company.

One day after his 50th birthday, he founded “Radehose Erlebnistouren” on 25.03.2026 and purchased a second-hand minibus specially equipped for people with limited mobility. Radehose on his first weeks of experience: “It’s amazing how many families have people with such restrictions and how much they have to do without. They gratefully accept my offer to pick them up and bring them closer to the Spreewald, for example.” In Ullrich Wolff, he found a bargeman who offers boat trips for wheelchair users in Neu Zauche. He has used scaffolding planks to create entry and exit points into and out of the boat, which can be easily used with a little support.

Families gratefully accept his services, and many a special birthday is enhanced by a joint outing with his disabled family members. Steffen Radehose: “I want to offer services that allow those affected to forget their disability at least for a while – knowing full well that everyday life will catch up with them again. But there’s something about being able to take part in life as normal. My adventure tours focus precisely on these people affected by fate.”

He is currently converting his 15-year-old bus with an electric wheelchair lift for his own purposes. Steffen Radehose is well connected in the media. He receives more and more requests for tours for people like his son. He then puts together the program as he would like it to be based on his own experience. “It starts with suitable toilets, paths with edges and tripping hazards and accessible restaurants. I plan my trips with this in mind – I have plenty of experience in this area.”

Peter Becker, 13.05.26