Four-year-old Nomi van der Linden from Schaijk has just returned from the hospital, but is already selling hundreds of cookies, cupcakes and cakes on Saturday. She has neuroblastoma, a rare cancer that is discovered in about 25 children a year. But that doesn’t mean Nomi and those around her are going to mourn. On Saturday they will do everything they can to raise as much money as possible for research into childhood cancer. Meanwhile, the four-year-old goes in and out of the hospital.
At least a hundred people are standing in the driveway of Pieter and Yvon van der Linden on Saturday. The family has set up a market stall selling cupcakes, cookies and cakes. The proceeds go to the KiKa Foundation, for research into childhood cancer. “What is collected now may not be for Nomi. But then it is for the future. Just like Nomi now also benefits from money that has been collected in the past for the foundation,” says mom Yvon.
In September the nightmare started. Nomi looked pale, didn’t sleep anymore, ate worse and worse and sometimes cried out in pain. An ultrasound at the hospital revealed a tumor in Nomi’s abdomen. Six rounds of chemotherapy later, the tumor has shrunk. But she is far from cured.
A difficult one and a half year process will soon begin. First Nomi is operated on and then she receives a high dose of chemotherapy, radio- and immunotherapy. “It makes her very sick. She gets a lot of pain and her organs can partially fail,” explains father Pieter.
If she recovers from the cancer, there is still a fifty percent chance that it will come back. “If it comes back, it can’t be treated properly. So it’s very uncertain. We prefer not to think about that,” Yvon adds.
They just got out of the hospital. Nomi was in the Jeroen Bosch Hospital for five days, because a bacterium was discovered during a check-up. It was still exciting whether they could be at the action day on Saturday morning. “Luckily we got here just in time”, says papa Pieter.
To their surprise, the campaign was a great success. Nomi likes to do it and a lot of people show up. “It’s great for Nomi, playing shop is her thing. We also explained to her that the money is for sick children, she understands that,” says Pieter.
The five hundred cookies, hundreds of cupcakes and six apple pies are almost sold out within an hour. Many people pay more for the treats as an extra gift. “It is very unreal. We thought: if a hundred people come, that is great. But we are already there within more than an hour. There are even people who we do not know at all. That is so beautiful,” say Yvon and Pieter as they watch the crowds behind them.
According to the parents, it is very important that money goes to the KiKa Foundation. For example, their daughter now has a better chance of survival than in the past. “Years ago you had to go to America for about seven months for immunotherapy. Thanks in part to money from KiKa, this is now possible in a hospital in the Netherlands.”
The family raised a total of 8,200 euros with the campaign.