The 38-year-old firefighter Gerard and the 35-year-old catering manager Denise still live in the Gooise Bussum at the start of the episode. It is a sweet idea there, where the wine is always cold. Until Denise gets vague complaints five years ago. After the birth of their son Stein, she begins to see more and more black spots and quickly becomes tired. After many studies, Denise appears to suffer from the brain condition sinus thrombosis. She is forced to stop working and put all her social contacts on the back burner. They put a stent in her head a year ago, but it no longer works properly. There should actually be a second one, but that is not possible because of other complaints she would get.
Denise only feels good during their holidays in Portugal. The choice was made quickly and the family exchanged their beautiful 1930s home for a dilapidated farmhouse in the Portuguese hamlet of Alcantarilha. “I hope that I will soon be able to do things for people at my own pace. I’m really looking forward to that, feeling a bit more useful again,” Denise tells her story.
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The whole thing has to be on the shovel from top to bottom. And that with a construction budget of around 40,000 euros. However, they are not at all concerned. According to the family, it’s better to regret something you did than something you didn’t do! Well said, but then there must be enough money for it. And after a few months of hard work, their buffer is completely gone. “Because you have so many expenses in the beginning, things go fast, of course,” says Gerard.
“In the end we just asked our parents – at least I think it’s normal – if they could temporarily help out for two months. If only to cover our monthly expenses that we still had and to make sure we still had the could buy the building materials we need.”
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The Thiel family has now been living and working in Portugal for over a year and via the website of I leave let them know that they are still busy with construction. “Every day we come up with something new to make it all look as nice as possible. We are also still working on our own house, which is coming little by little. We think it is more important that the guests have a wonderful stay,” they say.
Denise is getting better and better. Sometimes there are days when she is not well and then it is a matter of taking a rest. That is a big task, according to the family. “There will always be things we run into, but it’s one big learning path and that’s okay. This one bumpy road we rock too!”
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I leave can be seen every Saturday at 9:30 pm on NPO1. Watch the episode with the Thiel family here back.
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