Symptoms
Mother Ilse: 'In the early morning, Madelief came downstairs crying: 'I have such a headache, mom.' The paracetamol I gave her came right back up. She was constantly vomiting. I recognized it from earlier that summer when she had similar symptoms. But after that, she felt good for a few weeks: we had a nice vacation, she participated in a musical summer school, and she was actively playing soccer. Madelief loves singing and acting. And making TikToks, of course. She's not much of a talker, but she can express her feelings well on stage. She's always cheerful. But on that day in September, that was not the case.'
Diagnosis
Ilse felt something was wrong. 'In a flash, I thought: Could it be a brain tumor?' The symptoms persisted, and Madelief was very weak. 'I grabbed a bucket from the sandbox, put Madelief in the car, and drove to the general practice again. I demanded that she be admitted. When a second doctor came to look at the MRI scan, I thought: 'This is not good.' After a nerve-wracking time in the waiting room, the doctor said: 'We see a mass in her head, you need to go to the Princess Máxima Center now.'
At the Máxima Center
Madelief turned out to have a high-grade aggressive brain tumor, a medulloblastoma. 'After hearing this, we were very shocked. We still hoped it would be a benign tumor, but unfortunately, an intensive treatment plan was needed. First surgery, then 30 radiation treatments, and six rounds of chemotherapy. Madelief is down to earth: 'If this has to happen, we'll just do it.' The neurosurgeon urged us: 'Take the treatment step by step and don't get ahead of yourselves.' Today is today, and tomorrow is a new day. This helped us a lot throughout the whole process.'
'Madelief finds the Máxima Center a nice hospital. But as soon as she enters the building, she stops eating and talking. That's due to the tension. If a brother or sister comes along, things go much better! Then she has enough distraction. Especially with big brother Oliver (11), she gets very naughty and has a lot of fun: playing outside in the garden, or going to the music studio. They crawl behind the DJ booth and play loud music with a smile on their faces.'
Flower bead
Last June, Madelief had her last chemo and received the flower bead. Ilse: 'It’s of course very nice that the treatment is over, but the recovery is just starting now. She has appointments with the physiotherapist, psychologist, and regular check-ups. Madelief needs to regain her strength, she went through so much this past year. Especially the time of radiation in Groningen was very tough for her; six weeks long and far from our home in Breda. Luckily, Madelief is getting more energy and is resilient. During her last chemo, she was even rollerskating. She keeps going, and if she can't, she takes her rest.'
One year later
Mother Ilse: 'I often think about last year, when we didn’t know what was coming. It's summer vacation again, the bags are packed. The year stood still, but at the same time, a lot has changed. Recently, Madelief vomited once more. I got very scared: 'Am I going to worry for the rest of my life?!' But then I realize it was just bad luck that this happened to us. We couldn’t have prevented it. It was a tough year, for Madelief, for us as parents, and also for our other children. But in a way, it will also make them stronger and maybe teach them to look at life differently.'
'My tip to other parents at the Princess Máxima Center is: live day by day. Maybe your child is having a bad day today. But tomorrow can be better. You can’t take your child's struggle away, and that makes it very hard. If today is a bad day, you can hope together that tomorrow will be a good day again.'