If Jos Luten from Pesse had not become a stem cell donor five years ago, his father would have died. To draw more attention to stem cell donation, Jos and his walking group collect money for Matchis, the Dutch foundation for stem cell donors.
In contrast, the Keerls from Drentheas they call themselves, take part in the Nijmegen Four Days Marches in July.
It looks like a birthday in the backyard of the Luten house. Coffee, cake, biscuits and strong talk: it’s fun. But the walking group, consisting of three brothers and some friends and acquaintances, has a serious goal in mind: to collect as much money as possible for charity.
That charity is therefore stem cell donation. The Matchis Foundation may have generated a lot of attention recently – partly because of the campaign by the recently deceased PSV press secretary Thijs Slegers – but there remains a great demand for donors. Luten and his brothers found out about this when they hurriedly sought a match for their father five years ago.
“We first looked in the global database, but no match was found there,” he says. “Then people look at family and my brother and I turned out to be a match. In the end I turned out to be the best match.”
The stem cell donation gave his father five extra years. Luten’s father is now seriously ill again and is in hospital. “But he has at least five extra years,” says Luten. “He has seen his grandchildren grow up. Now we hope that he will also beat this disease and make it. That would be fantastic.”