The terminally ill kickboxer Robbie Hageman has become the father of daughter Eva. “It is the first daughter. This is very beautiful. Still different than with a son. It feels a little more protective.” She was born in good health at 04.26 in the night from Sunday to Monday. Robbie and his wife Chantal already have three sons. “I am very grateful.”
“This is the first time I dared to look during the birth. Then you really see that God exists. That is really a miracle.” With his daughter on his arm and a big smile on his face, Robbie talks about his newborn daughter at home on the couch in Nuenen. She was born more than five hours earlier in the hospital in Eindhoven. “We are not driving to Helmond,” he says laughing.
The kickboxer is seriously ill. He has a tumor in his head. Doctors in the Netherlands give him a maximum of five years. “They also said I wouldn’t be able to box anymore. I have proven that again.” On May 20, Hageman fought another match to say goodbye to kickboxing.
“I teach her brothers kickboxing. Then she doesn’t need it.”
“The birth is a motivating factor to do even more to heal. I am engaged in nutrition, rest. I read the Bible and I pray more now.”
With the arrival of his daughter, his family is complete. He doesn’t want any more children. “To limit the damage. Suppose things go wrong, what the doctors think, my wife will be left with four or five small children. I would have loved to have a large family. Four is a nice big family.”
“Fortunately, I first had three sons. The last one might be a daughter. Her name is Eva, just like the first girl. It is also the name given by God.” The full name is Eva Lena Maria Hageman. She is named after Robbie’s mother, among others.
She doesn’t have to learn kickboxing from Robbie. “I teach her brothers kickboxing. Then she doesn’t need it.”