For the care costs: René Weller’s wife sells his trophies

Memorabilia from René Weller’s (69) boxing career are for sale on Ebay. How, does his wife Maria want to use the income to pay for future care costs. The former professional boxer is seriously ill with dementia and needs 24-hour care. His wife is currently doing this at home in Pforzheim.

“You get existential fear”

René Weller was diagnosed nine years ago. In recent years, the disease has progressed more and more, and caring for his wife is becoming increasingly difficult. “He can’t walk anymore, can’t get out,” she said now. “I take care of him 24 hours a day, I’m almost always at his bedside.” His wife worries a lot about the future: “If I can no longer hold him, a nursing home would cost at least 4,000 euros a month,” said Maria Weller of “Bild”. But her husband only receives a pension of 270 euros per month. “You get scared of your existence. The money that we earn from the sale on Ebay should go into the reserve for René’s care.”

That is why she offers a number of the many collector’s items on the Internet sales platform. You can find his champion belt from the European Boxing Union for 3,100 euros and signed fighting gloves for 1,950 euros. Fans can also buy oil paintings that René Weller painted in his free time. His wife says he “certainly doesn’t mind.” “When he wasn’t that sick yet, he asked me to fulfill his fans’ wish. Why shouldn’t the fans be able to enjoy it as long as René is still alive?”

Boxing career and TV presence

As a professional, Weller was, among other things, German Champion and two-time European Champion of the European Boxing Union (EBU). He ended his career 30 years ago. After that, he appeared frequently in television programs. In 2005, for example, he was part of “Big Brother”, in the summer of 2016 he and his wife took part in the RTL format “Das Sommerhaus der Stars”.