Happy Bird Day!

Yesterday, precisely 1 year ago, I was told that I have cancer. Once again the days coming up to the anniversary were hard. I spent the day going to the dentist and getting my shoulder scanned. Getting scanned brought back memories of my very first scan. It was this picture that was shown to me when I was first informed about the tumor.

At that point it wasn't clear to me yet that that was just one of many tumors, but I do know that in a split second I decided to not let it get the better of me. From a prognosis of 2 to 3 months, to now 10 years, is a magnificant improvement. Though it is inevitable that this illness will most probably lead to my death at some point or other, It has become clear to me that beating the odds is not impossible.

So how did I feel yesterday? I have to say that it was not as hard as March 17, when a year had passed since I broke my back. What came to mind mostly was the pain involved in having to tell my family and especially Kiara.

This is a good time to thank family and friends, in particular my parents, my siblings and their spouses, my nephews and neice, Jacqueline, Tineke and Henk, Saskia and Henk, Ineke, Myrugia, Rachelle, Jocelyn and Matt, Dr. Scott, Myriam, Gert-Jan, Tirzah, Carla and Henk (Henk is a common name in Holland!), Nanette, Hugo, Anita, Willemijn, Collin. Basisschool 't Kruispunt, Trappenberg and all of you who have helped out throughout the year. And then there are all of you out there from Pricewaterhouse Coopers,Tunis, Rosemead and the rest of the UK-clan, the USA, Surinam, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Greece, etc. etc. who have given me their continued support.

Since starting my weblog it has been visited 5115 times by friends and family in 27 countries. Please keep saying all your prayers you Jews, Christians, Muslims, and non believers...as your transcendant energy is working miracles!

In particular, thank you to Kiara and Marcus, your patience and selfless love keeps my heart ticking everyday. You bring me so much joy!












And now...off to year number 2!