He doesn’t set himself an easy job, but Menno Klok is sure of it. Every day in 2025 he will walk 10 kilometers to raise money for research into Ewing’s sarcoma. Son Sten died at the age of 21 from this rare and aggressive form of bone cancer.
Klok lists what his son had to deal with. “Sten was 18 years old when the disease was diagnosed. He had to undergo treatments, chemotherapy and radiation for almost three years.” When Sten had been clean for a while, the disease returned and he died.
Sten was extremely unlucky, especially considering the number of times Ewing’s sarcoma appeared. That is about 20 to 25 times a year, especially in young children and adolescents. “You often find out too late and there are metastases,” says Klok.
It motivates him to raise money for research. “KWF Kankerbestrijding does many good things, but mainly finances the types of cancer that occur most often. So if you want something, you have to take action yourself.”
Klok started his running adventure in a symbolic way, by starting his first lap at the football fields of Nieuw-Buinen. The place where Sten came so often. With him in mind, Klok took his first steps. “It’s still a combination of running and walking,” he tempers. “I’m not that athletically built, haha. But the intention is that eventually I will run everything.”