The 26-year-old Berend Swennen from Eindhoven has a special tattoo with an equally special story. He had the tattoo done when he heard that his donated stem cells saved the life of a 20-year-old man.
Berend donated those stem cells about three years ago. “I found that so overwhelming that I wanted to get a tattoo of it. Especially after I heard that he is still alive thanks to my stem cells.” That is why Berend has had ‘man20’ written on his arm in Morse code.
“Then I thought: okay, let’s go. I signed up right away.”
At that time he was a lot younger than now. Why did Berend want to donate stem cells even then? “I had heard through-via that there was a very large shortage of male donors. Coincidentally, students at my school held a campaign to draw attention to that shortage. Then I thought, okay, let’s go. I signed up right away.”
It is very important that there are many donors, Berend explains. That is because it is very difficult to find a good match. The chance is 1 in 50,000 that such a match will be found. “A lot of people who sign up never get a call. The chances of that happening are really very small. But it is still important to register. It is often literally a matter of life and death.”
It took quite some time before Berend’s stem cell transplant took place. First a lot of tests had to be done. Five days before the operation, Berend also had to take heavy medication. According to Berend, that was sometimes intense. “You actually sacrifice those days. But it’s worth it. Because with those five days I saved a human life.”
“It was mostly about my own safety.”
Moreover, a lot was done to make him feel safe, Berend explains. “I could drop out at any time if I wanted to. The doctors also checked me very carefully. Heart films, lung photos: everything was sorted out. Not just for the person who received my stem cells. It was mostly about my own safety.”
At the moment, a lot of donors are added after a call from PSV press secretary Thijs Slegers, who has been told after a stem cell transplant that he can no longer be saved. “I am proud to sit here, but I also have mixed feelings,” Berend refers to Thijs’s hopeless situation. .
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