Face to Face with Aad

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On Thursday, June 13, 2024, the “Oog in OOG” exhibition opened at the muZIEum. This exhibition featured photographs of people with eye prostheses. The portraits were taken by Marina Marinkovic, who is not only an ophthalmologist but also a photographer. The OOG in OOG Association published a booklet featuring this series of portraits.

HomeFace to Face with Aad

Listen to Marina's audio clip:

Marina: “I know that you do all the really big things in life on your own, but hearing Aad say it out loud really moved me. Medical training programs place a lot of emphasis on ‘shared decision-making.’ And that’s really different from just letting the patient figure it out on their own.”

Aad:

“The doctor said, ‘You can either have radiation treatment or have your eye removed.’ I asked, ‘If it were your father, what would you do?’ He replied, ‘You’re not my father,’ and then he was gone. My wife also said it was my choice. She didn’t want to influence me. You’re really on your own.”

André Hazes’s lyricist wrote a song for me. I can’t sing it yet. There’s a line in it that has even more impact now that I’ve had the surgery. For the first four months, I didn’t have any problems, and then one morning I suddenly realized: I only have one eye.

“You just have to keep going. Enjoy yourself. I walk a lot. But driving is tricky. Boating is fine. It’s slower, though.”