René (68) does not have long to live after a battle of 2 years and 9 months. He has terminal lung cancer and notices that his health is rapidly deteriorating. “Today we decided to put a bed in the living room, because walking is so hard that I have to be cared for by home care. So this is really intense.”
Lay awake
It is certainly not the first setback he has to deal with at the end of his illness. René had his own driving school for 43 years, but now, on the advice of his doctor, he has to throw in the towel. “I got energy out of it, but it also costs me way too much energy now,” he says.
His uncertain future means that René often lies awake at night. “I don’t know what’s going to happen in a moment, what my end is, that’s the hard part. If I occasionally get into a heavy coughing fit, then I think: oh no,” he says. “And somehow I also hope, because I know that I have been treated completely, that it will stop very soon. That I will not have to suffer too much.”
bucket list
René never had a bucket list, but his illness made him realize that he still wanted to do a few things. That is why he held a fundraising campaign for a Thai animal shelter, where he volunteered for a while in 2017.
“My death, I wanted that to mean something in the life of someone else. And those are elephants and tigers that are wonderfully taken care of there. And I held a donation campaign for that and raised 4,500 euros. Just at friends and acquaintances.”
‘Enjoy!’
At the age of 68, René has gained a lot of life experience. His most important life lesson? “Go enjoy life. And don’t say, ‘Oh you know what, we’ll discuss that tomorrow.’ No, wake each other up and start discussing that now.
Don’t wait, because with me I see that I – at 68 years old, worked very hard always, with a lot of fun – and now it’s just done for me. It is over. I should have enjoyed more. Enjoy!
