{"id":6308,"date":"2025-05-12T15:39:47","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T13:39:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/bibliotheek\/moving-forward-with-eyes-wide-open\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T17:13:59","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T15:13:59","slug":"moving-forward-with-eyes-wide-open","status":"publish","type":"library_pt","link":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/library\/personal-stories\/moving-forward-with-eyes-wide-open\/","title":{"rendered":"Moving Forward with Eyes Wide Open"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-post-date\"><time datetime=\"2025-05-12T15:39:47+02:00\">12 May 2025<\/time><\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After several visits to different hospitals (Tilburg, Nijmegen, Utrecht, and the VU Amsterdam), the diagnosis came quickly. Treatment began even before my first birthday\u2014when I was just 5 months old. Because my father had been born with the same type of cancer, the doctors caught it early.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The treatment consisted of a total of 15 radiation sessions, and they were effective. The tumors have been encapsulated. I was able to retain my vision\u2014something I\u2019m grateful for every day. But that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s all behind me. I live with the long-term effects: daily headaches, dry eyes, and physical changes caused by the radiation. But also things that others often don\u2019t see, yet that I carry with me constantly.     <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Still, I\u2019ve never let that define me. I live my life to the fullest. I work, exercise, and challenge myself\u2014even when it\u2019s tough. In my work as a soldier, I learn about limits\u2014and sometimes push them. But I learned that earlier\u2014not at the barracks, but in the hospital, as a child. The illness didn\u2019t make me stronger\u2014I developed that strength on my own over time. By keeping moving forward step by step, even when things got tough. Not because it\u2019s always easy, but because I have confidence in myself and in what I can handle.       <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s exactly why I\u2019ve chosen to share my story. Not because I like being in the spotlight, but because retinoblastoma is more than just a rare diagnosis from the past. Its impact lives on\u2014often unseen, but lasting. If my experience helps others feel understood, or sparks a conversation where there was once silence, then that\u2019s valuable.   <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To everyone living with the effects of illness\u2014whether visible or not\u2014stay true to yourself and don\u2019t let anyone limit your outlook on the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My name is Martine, and I&#8217;m 29 years old. I was born with two hereditary tumors\u2014bilateral retinoblastoma. When I was just a few weeks old, doctors realized something was seriously wrong.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":6309,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_daextauttol_enable_tooltips":""},"library_cat":[113,123],"class_list":["post-6308","library_pt","type-library_pt","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","library_cat-personal-stories","library_cat-retinoblastoma"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/library_pt\/6308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/library_pt"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/library_pt"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"library_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/library_cat?post=6308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}