Only by labeling what we experience as either good or bad, something actually becomes good or bad. In it’s extreme this is true for cancer as well as for every minor and major aspect of life. If you get cancer you might find it hard not to label it as a bad thing but to just see it for what it is: a disease that you might or might not be able to survive.
It is difficult to deal with the blows life dishes out to all of us, may it be due to cancer or to any other catastrophe that turns our universe — everything we thought would last forever — upside down. That’s why it makes an excellent story to hear how brave man and woman fight their battles and how this affects them.
Maarten van der Weijden is an Olympic swimming champion and has won gold for the 10 kilometers open water event, at the Olympics in Beijing 2008. He also survivedcancer and was forced to take two years out to survive the disease. At one stage he was not expected to survive. Contrary to Lance Armstrong, the cancer surviving Tour de France biker, Van der Weijden doesn’t agree it is only positive thinking and lot’s of sports that has saved him. ‘I even think it’s dangerous because it implies that if you are not a positive thinker all the time you lose.’ says Van der Weijden. ‘I am just lucky that the chemotherapy saved me. That’s how simple it is.’ Van der Weijden speaks with great insight on how his fight against cancer has affected him.
Maarten van der Weijden is a long distance and marathon swimmer. Between 1998 and 2000 he became Dutch national champion and participated at the European Junior Championships and the 2000 Open Water World Championships. In 2001 he was confronted with leukemia and his career was likely to be over. Surviving cancer he made his comeback in 2003. He qualified for the Open Water World Championships in Barcelona and won another three Dutch titles. In 2004 he swam across the IJsselmeer thus collecting 50.000 euro which he donated for cancer research. Between 2005 and 2008 he worked to become World Champion and he fulfilled his aim at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing when he ended up winning the gold medal. He announced the end of his professional swimming career during his acceptance speech as Dutch Sportsman of the year. In 2009 his autobiografie ‘Beter’ was published.
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED has created a program called TEDx. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. Our event is called TEDxRotterdam, where x = independently organized TED event. More »
Maarten van der Weijden
Gold medalist and cancer survivor
It is what it is.
Only by labeling what we experience as either good or bad, something actually becomes good or bad. In it’s extreme this is true for cancer as well as for every minor and major aspect of life. If you get cancer you might find it hard not to label it as a bad thing but to just see it for what it is: a disease that you might or might not be able to survive.
It is difficult to deal with the blows life dishes out to all of us, may it be due to cancer or to any other catastrophe that turns our universe — everything we thought would last forever — upside down. That’s why it makes an excellent story to hear how brave man and woman fight their battles and how this affects them.
Maarten van der Weijden is an Olympic swimming champion and has won gold for the 10 kilometers open water event, at the Olympics in Beijing 2008. He also survived cancer and was forced to take two years out to survive the disease. At one stage he was not expected to survive. Contrary to Lance Armstrong, the cancer surviving Tour de France biker, Van der Weijden doesn’t agree it is only positive thinking and lot’s of sports that has saved him. ‘I even think it’s dangerous because it implies that if you are not a positive thinker all the time you lose.’ says Van der Weijden. ‘I am just lucky that the chemotherapy saved me. That’s how simple it is.’ Van der Weijden speaks with great insight on how his fight against cancer has affected him.
Maarten van der Weijden is a long distance and marathon swimmer. Between 1998 and 2000 he became Dutch national champion and participated at the European Junior Championships and the 2000 Open Water World Championships. In 2001 he was confronted with leukemia and his career was likely to be over. Surviving cancer he made his comeback in 2003. He qualified for the Open Water World Championships in Barcelona and won another three Dutch titles. In 2004 he swam across the IJsselmeer thus collecting 50.000 euro which he donated for cancer research. Between 2005 and 2008 he worked to become World Champion and he fulfilled his aim at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing when he ended up winning the gold medal. He announced the end of his professional swimming career during his acceptance speech as Dutch Sportsman of the year. In 2009 his autobiografie ‘Beter’ was published.
www.maartenvanderweijden.nl
http://www.vimeo.com/12674075