The Suzan & Freek drama has taken a bomb for many people in the country. How is it possible that a fit and young person like Freek Rikkerink (32) can no longer be cured? “There is no screening.”
Suzan & Freek are reports of sorrow: they immediately stopped as a musical duo because a metastatic lung cancer at Freek Rikkerink has been found, and there is no more chance of healing. It is discovered very late with the singer and that is not surprising, because the disease has few specific symptoms, explains Longarts-oncologist Charlotte de Bondt at VRT.
Under the radar
It is difficult to discover lung cancer, says Charlotte. “That is why we often only make the diagnosis in a metastatic stage. Lung cancer can often stay under the radar for a long time.”
The metastases can cause complaints. “Through metastases to the bones, a patient can get pain or spread the cancer to the brain, which can cause neurological problems such as epilepsy or paralysis.”
No screening
Should we not check people preventively? Now, in our country, lung cancer is not yet being screened, but according to pulmonologist Robin Cornelissen of the Erasmus MC, studies have already shown that it is an effective means to detect lung cancer.
He says to the NOS: “In the Netherlands it has been presented to the Health Council and it still sees hooks and eyes that first have to be worked out even further. That will probably take years.”
High risk
In the end, that would not have saved Freek, says Robin. “It is only about screening the elderly and people who have a high risk of cancer. So someone like Freek would have fallen outside that screening.”
You cannot also investigate everyone, says pulmonologist and cancer specialist Annelies Janssens in it Ad: “No, that is not useful. That would mean that we have to perform a lot of scans, which is not just medical and practically justified. (…) Sharing does not produce too little for non-smokers.”