Author Herman Koch Opens Up About Battling Aggressive Prostate Cancer in New Book

Koch writes in his book that in February 2020 he received the news in the Amsterdam hospital that the “particularly aggressive” prostate cancer had spread to, among other things, the vertebrae and lymph nodes. In his most personal book to date, he describes the life expectancy the doctor gave him: “You won’t die immediately from this,” he said, “but beyond that there is little to say. Three to fifteen years, it could be anything, it depends on too many factors, it is impossible to make predictions about that yet.”

In Are you going to write about it? Although Koch’s illness is the common thread, it is not the only subject. Koch got the title of his book from the question from his doctor, who asked whether he wanted to put the story of his illness on paper. Koch writes that he dreads the publicity: “The editor of the talk show who calls me for the interview. So just to get things straight: you have how many, five, ten years left to live? That’s not so bad considering your age, is it? And then try to avoid the clichés in the answer: We all have to die of something eventually.”

Koch therefore chooses to tell his story once in an interview with Volkskrant Magazine, which was published online on Thursday. In it he talks about how he now deals with his illness. “My life is like living on a volcano slope. You keep hearing some rumbling, feeling light shocks, and thinking: we’ll have to evacuate soon.”

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2024-01-04 16:59:34


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