The heartbreaking appeal of the terminally ill PSV press secretary Thijs Slegers has so far resulted in more than 4,200 new registrations from people who want to become a stem cell donor. Slegers announced last week that the doctors can no longer help him and that he is no longer getting better. In Jinek, he spoke openly on Wednesday evening about how he is doing. “I have often thought that my tears had run out, but that is not the case.”
Although 46-year-old Slegers previously underwent a successful stem cell transplant, the after-effects will be fatal for him. “I’m not going to survive my illness, the side effects will eventually kill me,” he said in Jinek. “It can take weeks, or months. The doctors don’t have a crystal ball, I live from day to day.”
With two young children it is hard for Slegers, the realization that he will not see them grow up. “I have often thought that my tears had run out, but that is not the case. We were sitting here with the children at the kitchen table the other day talking about how we organize my funeral. And recently my daughter came down dressed in black, for my funeral. Then your heart will break.”
Donors can never be enough, he emphasizes. “There are many people who suffer this fate. My fate need not be someone else’s fate.”
“I think that if you have the opportunity to do something for someone else, then you should just do it. If I can contribute to that, then I go into that box with enormous satisfaction.”