“Well hello eem”, with those words John Franke starts his very last vlog. The politician and entrepreneur from Zuidlaren died yesterday from the effects of lung cancer. A day before his death, he recorded one last vlog.
Through his vlogs, Franke took people into the process surrounding his illness. The Zuidlaarder had lung cancer and, among other things, campaigned for a population study into this disease. “You have been able to follow the whole process in 200 vlogs. And in vlog number 201 I unfortunately have to say that this is the end of my life,” says Franke.
“In two days I’ve become bedridden and I’m almost out of air. The drains are clogged, there’s nothing they can do about it. It’s the simple fact that life is over.” In the last vlog, Franke thanks his doctors, the people around him and also the viewers of his vlogs and the people who responded. “When I see what the reactions are now, I can only be proud and I am.”
In his latest vlog, Franke also once again calls for work on the lung cancer population screening: “Don’t let money play a role. Now turn Kok’s quarter into Kuipers’ quarter (Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport, ed.). A smoker can easily pay for every quarter on a pack of cigarettes and then you can finance everything. I hope that some things will be implemented as soon as possible. Together with prevention, that is an important part.”
In the vlog, the entrepreneur talks about his death. “This is it, I can’t make it all more exciting. Saturday March 4th my life will end around noon and I have peace with that. Because I’m a total loss. And you don’t want that. Dear people, I love You guys. Hold on tight and think about it; live your life. Keep living, though you be as sick as I’ve been, keep living. Make everyone proud of you, I seem to have realized that. It’s up to you keep doing that too. We’ll meet again somewhere.”
According to Franke, his daughter will continue to post vlogs to take people into the grieving process that the family is going through.