© leo de bock
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The well-known psychiatrist Dirk De Wachter tells in an interview with De Tijd that he has cancer. He has already had surgery and is now in the chemotherapy phase.
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Dirk De Wachter is the author of several bestselling books on the art of living and suffering. He comes from Boom, lives in Antwerp, also has his private practice there and is a professor at KU Leuven.
“The cancer diagnosis was totally unexpected,” he says. “I had no complaints. It was a blow, even for a psychiatrist, who is supposed to keep his emotions in check.”
Due to the diagnosis, he has to stop working for the first time in 35 years. “In the past two months I have aged years. The operation weakened me a lot. I couldn’t take three more steps. I felt like a man of ninety. It has improved a lot: now I feel about seventy. So I’m very busy with a rejuvenation cure. Hopefully I can feel 61 again soon, my real age.”
He also speaks about confronting death: “I didn’t look her in the eye. It’s more indirect. I feel her sneaking behind me. She breathes coldly on my neck at times and straightens my hair. Sometimes I am overwhelmed by a dantesk sense of the limbo of hell. When I’m in the waiting room of the oncology department, or when they’re putting on an IV.”
He says he does not believe in a life after death, but because of the situation he is more concerned with the finiteness of life: “The theme of life and death is more sensitive”.
And: “A few days ago I called my brother about chemotherapy, and I was still struggling with my words. Of course, the medication also makes you more emotional.” Dirk Hendrikx
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