The Beginning.

In 2020, shortly after my birthday, I started feeling unwell for a while until I reached a point where I couldn't keep anything down and kept vomiting. I went to the emergency clinic, and after various tests, I was diagnosed with Leukemia on September 18, 2020. The following months involved investigations to determine the specific type of Leukemia I had, which turned out to be Acute Myeloïd Leukemia (AML).

AML is a form of blood cancer that originates in the bone marrow. "Acute" means that the blood cancer develops rapidly and is life-threatening if left untreated.

My life suddenly came to a halt. Everything disappeared: school, education, work, and my future...

The treatment involved undergoing five intense chemotherapy sessions at the Princess Máxima Center in Utrecht.

I will try to give a short version of the treatment because there were a lot of complications and the treatment took months. 

Thankfully, I was able to go home in between the sessions, but due to my weakened condition, I often found myself in the UMCG hospital in Groningen during the breaks. I even spent three times in the Intensive Care Unit due to various complications...

It was a very challenging time, but 9 months later, I made it!

The leukemia was gone, and now the long road to recovery began...
I had to go to the Princess Máxima Center in Utrecht regularly...

and to the UMCG (University Medical Center Groningen) in Groningen.

For check-ups, this started with twice a week and gradually expanded to once every 3 months.

Each time was still a tense moment, and we were looking forward to reaching the 2-year milestone.

Things started to take on a semblance of "normal" life again. I regained some endurance and became sick less frequently. Fortunately, I was able to pursue a vocational training in ICT at Noorderpoort College and slowly return to work at Steakhouse Desperado Winschoten after a long time.