Summer and summer vacation; a time for many to enjoy and relax. Away from all worries, activities and crowds. Enjoy a day at the beach or a walk in the mountains. It seems so obvious. The people in your own environment also become absorbed.

Still, if you have cancer it is different. Even if you feel good enough to go on vacation, you will not get free from your illness and worries. Anne Marie van Veen (from NFK Dutch Federation of Cancer Patients) writes a short article about this in the online publication "My Health Guide" that we would like to share with you.

Translated from online publication: https://www.mijngezondheidsgids.nl/kanker-vakantietijd/

The summer vacation is almost coming. A time for most of us to look forward to. A few weeks of carefree enjoyment. Delicious de-stressing and having fun, free! To return to the old rhythm almost naturally afterwards.

For the many hundreds of thousands of cancer patients in the Netherlands, a feeling of healthy "jealousy" may also be present during this period. You may go on vacation, but you will never have cancer on vacation.

Almost unfair that carelessness around you; knowing that enjoyment cannot be carefree, but with a big uncertain cloud in the sky. The diagnosis of cancer, in whatever form or at whatever stage, does much to undermine what people have always believed. Namely life itself. It causes a lot of sorrow for the patient and the loved ones. Yet it also gives a certain form of enrichment. It is an almost irreverent cliché that applies to many people who have or have had cancer.

It is not about the leaves turning greener, but that life in all its colors sometimes seems more intense than all of the rainbow combined. And yet it can undermine someone's entire existence. And it is up to the patient and his loved ones to find the strength to come out of it. Something that you as a patient cannot or should not do alone. And where the very embrace of a loved one is so important. That embrace that can give a patient, if only for a moment, a bit of that holiday feeling of freedom.

Guest contribution from Anne Marie van Veen of the Dutch Federation of Cancer Patient Organizations (NFK).

If you are or are going on holiday, take care of yourself by enjoying your surroundings and your company despite the worries. This also applies if you stay at home. Because, as we think the writer of the piece means, that embrace of a loved one, whether at home or on vacation, is very important to you.

Do you want to share your holiday story or good tips with us and the blog readers? What gave you the feeling of being free for a while or what did you enjoy so much? Maybe you can encourage someone else with your story or give tips that make that person just that little bit easier to go on holiday. Feel free to respond!


Our tips:

  • Think of a good head covering in the summer, the sun is strong and your skin is not as resistant to the sun as before you got sick. In the webshop there is always something that suits you.
  • Take good care of your skin and apply on time. Look for products that help you with this in the webshop at Beauty & Care. *

Greetings from Cathalijne

..........and a warm embrace from us for you!