{"id":83283,"date":"2018-02-03T12:00:14","date_gmt":"2018-02-03T11:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=83283"},"modified":"2026-02-10T16:53:53","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T15:53:53","slug":"beter-was-het-maar-waar-het-echte-gevecht-begint-nu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2018\/02\/03\/beter-was-het-maar-waar-het-echte-gevecht-begint-nu\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018So I\u2019m all right now? If only I were. The real battle is only just beginning\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a year\u2019s battle against life-threatening leukaemia, student Amber Visser, 21, is enjoying considerably improved prospects. It turned out her little brother was her saviour, and her therapy proved successful. But she is not yet sure things will be all right. First she will have to get through her own personal week of truth.<\/p>\n

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\u2018It\u2019s like having the rug pulled from under you.\u2019 Last April, Amber Visser first told us her story. One month previously, the Psychology and Philosophy student had received news that had turned her life upside down: she was suffering from acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. According to her doctor, she had a 75 percent chance of survival, if they managed to find a suitable donor.<\/p>\n

Many people would have freaked out at the news. Not so Amber. Her smile and optimism became her main weapons. \u201cIt\u2019s impossible to prove, but I think it helped. Of course I experienced some very tough moments, but I always tried to stay positive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018Amber has left the hospital and has completed her therapy, so now she\u2019s all better. If only I were. The real battle has only just begun\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

Pinky toe<\/h2>
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In mid-May she received the first piece of good news. Her younger brother, Quintius, was found to be a suitable donor. \u201cThis was a huge relief, but also quite a psychological burden, because I knew the treatment would be hard on him, too.\u201d But before she was even ready to receive her brother\u2019s new stem cells, her cancer cells had to be eliminated by means of chemotherapy. \u201cThe problem is not getting rid of cancer. The problem is keeping it away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet the doctors soon managed to do just that. After two chemotherapy cycles, the malignant cells appeared to be largely gone. \u201cExcept you can never be sure. They can measure a lot, but they can\u2019t measure everything. There may literally be two cancer cells left in your pinky toe. The hardest thing was dealing with that uncertainty.\u201d<\/p>\n

15 percent<\/h2>

In addition to seeking her family\u2019s support, Amber often spoke to fellow patients through WhatsApp. \u201cIt was great, but also emotionally draining. We were all going through the same thing, so we quickly became friends. So if one of them suffered a setback or had just been told that the disease had returned, I felt all those emotions myself. And yes, some of my friends did not live to tell the tale.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018Yes, some of my friends did not live to tell the tale\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

By October, her body was ready for the transplant. While she had always had a very positive attitude, she now also experienced fear. \u201cThey kept telling me that this treatment would be the most painful one. I knew I was going to have a bad time of it. Fifteen percent of people undergoing this treatment die due to the surgery or its consequences. People aged thirty or older don\u2019t even undergo this form of treatment since their chances of survival are too low. As my doctor put it to my Mum: \u2018It\u2019s as though we are killing your daughter to give her a new lease of life.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Grocery shopping<\/h2>
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However, despite all the horror stories, Amber got through the transplantation just fine. \u201cI was able to leave the hospital on my two feet, rather than in a wheelchair. I was mentally making all sorts of plans because things were going so well.\u201d But two weeks later, her body did pull the emergency brake. \u201cI wasn\u2019t doing well at all, so I had to be re-admitted to hospital to start from scratch, so to speak.\u201d<\/p>\n

By now, she has been home for almost a month, and her health is improving little by little. The wheelchair is still in the corridor, just in case she needs it, but she seldom does. \u201cAt first I was unable to do anything. I would climb the stairs once and suffer sore muscles for several days afterwards. But now I\u2019m able to walk short distances outside and sometimes I\u2019ll join my mother when she goes grocery shopping.\u201d<\/p>\n

Week of truth<\/h2>

Following the relapse, the doctors gave her a clear warning: don\u2019t expect your recovery to be a straight line. \u201cThings go in waves, with ups and downs. Which is confusing to the people around me. They are thinking, well, Amber has left the hospital and has completed her therapy, so now she\u2019s all better. If only I were. The real battle has only just begun.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018There may literally be two cancer cells left in your pinky toe. The hardest thing was dealing with that uncertainty\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

Next week will be her week of truth, in which she will be told whether her body has truly accepted her brother\u2019s cells and whether she is now entirely \u2018clean\u2019. \u201cIt\u2019s looking good, but you never know. And even if the results are good now, the disease may return at any time. I\u2019m trying not to think of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two birthdays<\/h2>

For this reason, she is already making plans for her post-rehabilitation life. She has scheduled her first meeting with her study adviser and is spending a significant percentage of her leisure time volunteering with KWF (the Dutch Cancer Society). \u201cI try to do as much for them as I can. It\u2019s an easy thing to do from the sofa. For instance, the Spar supermarket at the campus now has a bin in which people can leave their empty bottles. The bottle deposit will be donated to KWF.\u201d<\/p>\n

She can\u2019t wait to resume her two degrees, but it is hard to tell at the moment when she will be able to do so. Until that time, she will cherish the fact that she is able to sit on her parents\u2019 sofa. \u201cI\u2019m so lucky to be able to do all this again. I\u2019ve seen others who weren\u2019t so lucky. For this reason, I regard the twelfth of October, the day on which I received my transplant, as my new birthday. Not many people get to celebrate two birthdays. So, you see, there is an upside to all of this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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De redactie<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t
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