Linda Hakeboom: Life after Cancer and the Impact on Everyday Life

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Life after cancer

Linda suffered greatly from chemo brain for a year and a half. “This can happen if you have received a lot of chemotherapy. They are cognitive problems. You are easily overstimulated and have poor concentration. To the outside world I looked a little better, but on the inside I was still a mess. I was not myself and unable to work normally. I tried, but I couldn’t.”

Now she feels a little better. “But I still find it very difficult to build up fitness. Much harder than before. I get tired much more quickly and have an inflamed shoulder due to the radiation. To the outside world it looks like I’m just carrying on, but in fact I’ve adapted my whole life to it. I am a changed person in the same life.”

Impact

Linda still has to come in once a year for routine examinations. “I’m lucky that I only have to come once a year, some people have to come once every few months. I think such research has a major impact. I don’t want to say that I sometimes forget about the disease, but at times in between it is sometimes a little further away.

But the week before I have to have a scan, I don’t recognize myself at all. I feel that I am actually unconsciously preparing myself for bad news. That also counts as one of the consequences. This is also the case in everyday life. If I think I feel a lump, that thought takes over a bit.”

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To explain

She still has to explain that Linda experiences consequences on a daily basis. “I look healthy again, but I still have complaints. I can’t blame people though. I never knew that it would have such far-reaching consequences. It needs to be talked about more. It doesn’t stop after your last radiation or treatment.”

And that can be quite difficult to admit. You also want to move on quickly, she knows. “There are a lot of places you can go for help. I still get physiotherapy, which is very nice. But you know what’s lame? You also really want to continue. You’ve been so devastated by the treatments for so long that you think: come on, let’s go back to work. During your treatments it has been about you all day long. That is also the danger: you want to get on with life again, and not work even less and go to a psychologist or physiotherapist all the time. But it is necessary, and people struggle with that, including myself a bit. You want to continue, but you can’t.”

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Ambassador

This year, open days will again be organized in all IPSO drop-in centers. Last year, Linda went to a drop-in center on World Cancer Day. “I thought it was very special. You are sitting there with people who have also experienced it. That’s very nice about it. When you live with and after cancer, you don’t really know what is possible. You can just leave kanker.nl Enter your zip code and you will see what is available in your area. Throughout the Netherlands there are many places as simple as drop-in centers. That’s what’s so good about World Cancer Day, that you can walk in anywhere and see if it could be something for you.”

Last Thursday, Linda took a seat at the talk show table of Omroep MAX to talk about World Cancer Day. As an ambassador for KWF, she is involved at many different times. “I spread information on my social media, I go to press events for them and go to talk shows to spread the message as much as possible from an expert. That’s how I try to help them.”

Keep asking

Linda has some advice for people who have to live with and after cancer: “It is very important that you are not too hard on yourself and that you know there is help. It is normal to suffer from it for a long time.”

Linda also has a message for people around her: “In the years after the treatments, keep asking: how are you actually doing? Do you still feel anything about it? Do you suffer from consequences? Make sure you inquire about it sometimes. I find it quite difficult to always bring it up yourself, you quickly think that people think you are a whiner. If someone asks, it’s nice to talk about it.”

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2024-02-04 06:04:59
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