MIEKE & FRED

[ENGLISH TRANSLATION]

My name is Mieke ++ and I am Fred ++.

Where are we now? Here in De Dreef, where we live. De Dreef is a block of 45 assisted living apartments, and we live there very independently. And it's a very pleasant place to live.

I suddenly felt a lump. And Fred wasn't home. He was at a funeral in Belgium. And I think, I was getting out of the shower. Or I was in the shower and that's when I felt it.

But I was already familiar with cysts. So I called right away; I could come right away, and then on ‘surprise’ evening, on ‘surprise’ day, We got the results. That was quite a surprise.

So, I had my surgery on December 10th. And I'm still here.

And the album is everything from the first day I was told it was breast cancer. The postman came every day with a whole bunch of letters, cards, and flowers.

And I kept it all. And that's my album, and I still look at it often. And then I think, I did a great job.

It was when I was in the Marine Corps. I don't know if it had anything to do with that. But I handled it well. I walked out and didn't turn around. Not at all. And then we resolved it well.

67 years now. We've known each other. And last June we celebrated our 60th wedding anniversary.

We had a huge party in that room downstairs, we just saw. People still talk about it.

And it's been 40 years this year. We celebrated too. We celebrate all the dates related to it.

And I have an album, everything from that time. From the cards and the letters and the photos. And everything that was made and done back then.

And that's in this album. And that will go with me in my coffin when I die.