Chris (67) shares his story on World COPD Day: “I wish I had taken it seriously sooner”

Chris Spaan (67) from Purmerend has had COPD for 32 years. Partly due to his stubborn behavior and ignoring his illness, Chris looked death in the eye in 2008. His lung capacity was then only 10 percent. Thanks to a unique operation, his lung capacity has now been increased to 30 percent. Nowadays he can enjoy his life again, but he realizes all too well that he was ‘lucky’. That’s why Chris is happy to share his story today on World COPD Day.

Chris now calls himself an ‘ambassador’ for combating and informing about lung disease. He is sometimes asked by hospitals to tell his story so that students can learn something from it.

Shitty situation

In retrospect, his illness started at a relatively young age. Chris was only 32 years old when he developed complaints. “It was 1990. I was in a bad situation due to an unpleasant divorce. I also worked at a bank, which was extremely stressful. I smoked two packs of cigarettes a day from the age of fourteen. That did not decrease much during that period. I had I already had complaints at the time, but I didn’t go to a doctor.”

When Chris decided to take steps towards an expert, it had already been seven years. In 1997, the pulmonologist said that Chris was already in the third, out of four, stage of COPD. “Then I couldn’t ignore it anymore. Still, I continued to smoke.”

In 2004, Chris collapsed and spent a month in hospital due to his lung disease. But even then Chris went back to work and soon lit another cigarette.

Turning point

His thoughts only really changed when Chris had surgery on his intestines in 2008, after which he developed pneumonia. “After that operation, I only had 15 percent lung capacity left. When I heard that, I immediately stopped smoking. In 2010, my doctor told me that I had finished my treatment and would not get better. When I heard that, I said, laughing: ” I’ll decide that myself.”

From that moment on, Chris’s son became his caregiver. His son was sixteen years old at the time. His son did this in addition to his school days. His son is currently still his informal caregiver, in addition to his work as an IT professional.

Blacker than the A7

Chris’s fate changed when he accidentally watched a broadcast of Tijd voor MAX, where a pulmonologist talked about an experiment with placing valves in the lungs. “The experiment took place in 2011 and saved my life. Because I only had 10 percent lung capacity, they had to perform the operation without anesthesia.”

“It wasn’t nice to see, because during the operation I saw my own lungs and they were blacker than the waste on the A7,” Chris shares. Thanks to the operation and the installation of valves, Chris’s lung capacity is now at 30 percent. He no longer has to walk with a walker all day and was even able to volunteer to teach cooking classes for a while.

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Chris is very happy that things turned out well for him and that he was so lucky. “Still, I often think: I wish I hadn’t been so stubborn. I didn’t see the seriousness of the problem at the time. We all cough sometimes, I thought. It’s actually a miracle that I’m still here.”

By sharing his story, Chris hopes to help others make the right choices and sound the alarm in time. “Even if I only reach two people with my story, that’s still two people.”

Today, Chris says he has a good life. “I am a hobby chef, I write poems and stories and I take photographs in nature. There were plenty of hobbies for me!” Chris is now very grateful for life. “When I wake up in the morning, I think: I’m back.”