Guys, a serious post from me for once. One of our own needs a little favor (some of you may have already seen this via FB)
A fellow owner, Rob van der Veer who I talk to mostly on the Eurotec forum, but who is also a long time member on this forum, has been unwell for almost two years. You wouldn’t have particularly known it from his postings but he has mentioned it in passing a couple of times, but not in any depth. He has always been a charming guy with a great sense of humor. I think he is in his 20s perhaps, and lives in The Netherlands but has made the trip to DeLorean events in the UK over the years. He’s a great guy.
Anyway he posted this on the Eurotec forum this morning as a brief expose on what’s been going on in his life recently as well as a small request at the end.
Calling all DeLorean owners /enthousiasts.
After almost two years of hard struggle and pain, yesterday i regained consciousness after a fourth and final operation in my face. For those that do not know, on februari 2012 a huge tumor was found in my left sinus, and things went downhill from there on. After a devastating chemotherapy from march till may i underwent a major 10 hour surgery that wore me out even more. I had lost 25 kg by then, but at least the tumor was out. During surgery they used my left Fibula to reconstruct my upper jaw. It didn't hold so 14 days later the bone was removed, leaving a huge gap in my face. On top of that the donorsite on my leg got infected. I found out that that infection (and not the tumor) would keep me bedridden for the next 12 months or so. I was given a small recovery window after that surgery, but in july 2012 i started radiotherapy to kill the last bits of cancer. It took three months of daily treatment and finished early october of that year. Needless to say this took away the remaining 5% of my energy. On top of this, my jaw muscles have been severely damaged and i have not chewed on anything since march last year which means i'm on fluid foods now 20 odd months.
Fast forward: i've been doing fysical therapy for 3 months now (since the infected leg was closed) so i could walk again, and prepare for the last operation. And finally yesterday the hole in my face has been closed with some skin and flesh taken from my right arm. Now i need to stay in hospital for 10 more days for observation.
But i am not yet done. I need to recover once again. And get back to work, and social life. And drive my DeLorean again. FaceBook has helped me enormously in the last two years. Especially all my DeLorean friends i made the last years. What would be my good wish, is to receive a postcard from people that know me or just want to wish me well. I hate to plead, but please send me a get well card to my parents address:
Rob van der Veer
J. van Heemskerckstraat 1
3351 SP Papendrecht ZH
The Netherlands
So, if you are out somewhere this weekend that sells post cards, (perhaps you are visiting the newly reopened national parks, perhaps you are in Canada, or Australia. ), please send him one.
(I hope he doesn’t mind my cross posting this)
Reply With Quote
