Emotional farewell to Miguel Van Damme: “Rest now in peace, beautiful boy”
Several hundred people gathered at the Sint-Blasiuskerk in Jabbeke to say goodbye to Miguel Van Damme. Van Damme from West Flanders had been fighting leukemia for more than five years, but died of the disease on Monday night. He leaves behind a wife and daughter.
beautiful boy
His wife Kyana was the first to speak and spoke about the years they spent together. “I don’t really know where to start, but I’ll start at the beginning, when we met. I saw in what a beautiful boy you were with a heart of gold. Unfortunately we didn’t stay on our pink cloud” said Kiana. “I promise to take good care of our daughter Camille and tell her what a good daddy you were. Rest in peace now.”
Daughter Camille
Miguel’s aunt read a text on behalf of his mother and Miguel’s sisters also spoke: “I’m going to tell your daughter so much about you”, sister Francesca said. Television maker Eric Goens, who made the documentary ‘Miguel’, also spoke a few words. “I want to talk about his illness as little as possible. I know that at the Association they like to close with ‘Long live Cercle’. I would like to close with ‘Long live Miguel'”, said Goens. Some images from the documentary were shown on it.
Teammates and friends
Cercle’s Charles Vanhoutte tearfully described Miguel as “a fun-maker, always positive. You took me under your wing when I came on the squad”. Bosom friend Thibaut Van Acker also spoke. The streets around the church in Jabbeke were closed for the funeral. Several hundred people stood outside the church to watch the service on a big screen, many of them Cercle Brugge fans.
With ‘Papa’ by Stef Bos, the hundreds of attendees finally paid their last tribute to Miguel Van Damme.