Fedde and his sister Elin (11) from Cuijk are walking in shorts this week to raise money for KiKa. A brain tumor was discovered in the boy two years ago. He has had three operations since then. “There was something in my head that shouldn’t be there.”
Dressed in shorts, the students of primary school De Waai in Cuijk started the last school week of this year on Monday. With Fedde and sister Elin in the lead. This year they are the ambassadors of the shorts campaign to raise money for KiKa (Children Cancer Free).
Fedde’s brain tumor was discovered when he was only six years old. He felt nauseous and occasionally closed his eyes. Ultimately it turned out to be a tumor. “It was terrible,” his mother Maud reflects. “The ground drops from under your feet. He himself did not realize how serious it was at that age.”
“We make a hatch in your head, take the ball out and then we close the hatch again.”
It was also a tough period for his sister Elin. “I was very shocked when I heard it. I burst into tears.”
But how do you explain something like that to a young child? “The doctor eventually explained the diagnosis to Fedde in childish language. He said: ‘You have a ball in your head and that causes the complaints you have. We have to take that ball out. We make a hatch in your head, remove the ball out and then we close the hatch again.”
“I also want to help other children who are sick.”
Fortunately, he is now doing a little better, although the tumor is not yet completely gone. Together with his sister he decided to raise money for KiKa. “Because I also want to help other children who are sick,” says Fedde at the kick-off of the national campaign at his school in Cuijk. Together with his sister, he is the face of the campaign this year: “It is really cool to be an ambassador now. A wonderful experience. But it is especially important that more children can be cured of cancer.”
So no warm pants these December days, but shorts. And that takes some getting used to for Fedde and Elin. “It’s a bit cold,” says Fedde, “but I don’t mind that.”
“People ask why we wear shorts.”
They receive many surprised reactions on the street. “People ask why we wear shorts. I then say that we are raising money for KiKa.”
In the meantime, the duo’s counter is up more than seven thousand euros. “We have already sold toasted sandwiches and chocolate milk in front of the supermarket. We have also baked cookies and are still at the Christmas market here at school.”
Until the end of this week, Fedde and Elin will still be wearing shorts, along with about 1,200 other children across the country. It will be announced on Friday afternoon how much money the campaign has raised for KiKa.
