The Dutch phrase "Maarten van der Weijden zwemt tegen kanker" means "Maarten van der Weijden swims against cancer.". Today I read the news about Maarten van der Weijden, a swimmer from Netherlands, who won the Gold for 10km swimming in 2008 Olympic. I read his interview. It's an inspiring one.He was diagnosed leukemia in 2001.
He said in his interview that his experience with beating leukaemia, with which he was diagnosed in 2001, a revelation that halted his swimming career in its tracks for at least a year as he underwent treatment. "I learned from the cancer period," he said. "I learned to approach challenges step-by-step. I can see that having leukaemia is helping me now: It's making me stronger because everything I go through in life from now on will be easier than what I went through to beat the cancer. The pain and fatigue that you feel in this [the 25km] race, well, I went through that for a whole year to beat the cancer, so, I know I can do it here for five hours [in the race]."
In 2004 he swam across the IJsselmeer in 4:20.58 hours, breaking the former record by almost 15 minutes to collect 50,000 Euros which he donated for cancer research.
What a man great man!. He has proved that nothing can stop him from achieving his go(ld)al. Let us wish him success in coming years..
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