The audience in the Philips Stadium in Eindhoven paid tribute to Thijs Slegers, PSV’s ailing spokesperson, on Saturday evening. The match against FC Groningen was stopped for a minute and the people in the stands gave a standing ovation. That happened in the twelfth minute. Thijs Slegers, who was present in the stadium, received the tribute visibly moved.
More than a week ago it turned out that the PSV spokesperson was terminally ill. Slegers announced that the doctors can no longer help him and that he is no longer getting better. He has a form of blood cancer.
Although 46-year-old Slegers previously underwent a successful stem cell transplant, the after-effects will be fatal for him. “I’m not going to survive my disease, the side effects are going to kill me eventually,” he said. “It can take weeks, or months. The doctors don’t have a crystal ball, I live from day to day.”
On social media, the spokesperson asked people to register as a stem cell donor. This would greatly help other patients suffering from a form of blood cancer. The heartbreaking call has so far yielded more than 5,000 new registrations from people who want to become a stem cell donor.