De Peddelaar lost his father to cancer last year. Moreover, his cycling buddy, who previously conquered the disease, is now once again in the oncological mill. Those were the nudges that prompted Richard to join this year’s Great Resistance Against Cancer sponsorship tour. The dreaded disease, however, knows the 55-year-old Noordscheschieter even closer: 30 years ago he was diagnosed with cancer himself. “That was in 1992, I was 25 years old at the time. Never noticed anything until I got a strange lump in my neck. Mwa, it will pass, I thought. But that was not the case.”
Nauseous
Finally he went to the doctor. It turned out to be testicular cancer, with various metastases. When it was not under control after a course of four chemotherapy, it became really exciting. “A new cure. Meanwhile, you wait for the moment when you feel sick and your hair falls out. Well, that hair didn’t fall out right away. And that nausea only came to me during the second course. Especially with hospital food (Richard was in hospital for a week during the second chemotherapy – ed). That croquette sandwich from the cafeteria on the corner, I really liked that,” he says with a laugh. After all, he can tell it.
Take chances
It has been three decades, but once you have personally been confronted with the disease, you become a different person. “Then you look at life differently. Then you know: you should seize the opportunities that come your way, don’t put them off.” And the fear? “It stays with you. You become more careful. If I feel something now, I go to the doctor sooner. Because ‘oh, god, it won’t, will it?’ Sometimes that is the case, isn’t it! You can see that in my bike size. He first had testicular cancer and now – he is even still under control – he has lymph node cancer.” Richard is silent for a moment.