WINDSURFING AS LIFE SAVER
The doctors have always said that without my trained body and mental focus I would not have lived as long as I have. I had nine chemos, radiotherapy, three lung operations and three stomach operations. Procedures where everything the body needs gets cut into pieces. You have two possibilities – either stay in bed or you keep going. To keep going is even more difficult than staying in bed, because every time you advance and think you are nearly there, you might have to do it all again. I am convinced that my background as a professional athlete has helped me a lot to get far in wanting to beat this disease. It’s really difficult to take bad news and turn it into something positive – that’s something you deal with every day when you compete professionally.
OPENNESS
I decided right at the beginning to be open about my disease. The support I got on Facebook was great, it made me feel that it is important to share my story. I got a couple of messages from people saying they went to see a doctor for a check-up. Even from people who actually found out they had cancer! That’s big. I was so afraid to go to the doctor. If someone would have spoken to me about testicular cancer in a normal way I would have gone there easier.
