Onno Maas

 In mid June, I had a pulmonary embolism, just out of the blue, and I was hospitalized for two weeks. Trying to find the cause, they did some scans and to make a long story short, they were not good.

I do have lung cancer, stage 4 (I stopped smoking 33 years ago) and the forecast is somewhat bleak. Although I am determined to make the most out of it. It is terminal, but we can hopefully stretch it for quite some time.

I start chemotherapy in 2 weeks and after that there is always an option for immunotherapy, which is increasingly getting better results. In the meantime I feel OK (low on energy) and I trying to get to grips about all this with Yvonne and Eva.

 

Monday August 20th:

Right now I am not feeling too bad, I am low on energy and have some minor physical discomfort, but nothing too bad.  No major activities, spending a lot of quality time with friends and family in my wonderful Scheveningen harbour.  I was not very active workwise anymore, so there was just one bigger assignment I had to give up, when the news hit me.

 

Unfortunately, the news has not gotten any better. What started as a pulmonary embolism, was later thought to be lung cancer but the definite diagnosis is pancreatic cancer, stage 4. Expectations are not good, but I try not to think about that too much.  I will probably start chemotherapy on Thursday, hopeful that will kick in fast without too much side effects.

 

The outpour of emails, Messenger and Whatsapp messages, phone calls and even a visit has been overwhelming and I am loving every minute of it. I see life as a journey and the quality of life for me is determined by the people you meet along the way and the friendships and connections you make with them. That's is way I have always tried to invest in those relations and I am so happy to see that 28 years later (I left SF in 1990) that results in so much love and support. It is heartwarming and very encouraging.

 

If you have time, keep the mails coming.  Part of the reason I am always involved with reunions (if you are on the bus with me three times, I start organizing one) is that I have a lousy memory and the reunions bring all the old stories good or bad.

 

So if you have any good anecdotes from the good old time, please share. It will remind me of the old days, which were always good, but certainly worth remembering.

 

I promise to keep you posted, either directly or through some people I am in regular contact with.