The two of them walk pleasantly across the Raadhuisplein in Emmen, chatting pleasantly. 10-year-old Jasmijn Nijhuis and mayor Eric van Oosterhout. “Just come over here a little, so you don’t fall into the water,” the mayor warns her as they walk close to the water feature. “Or you push me into the water!”, Jasmijn jokes back.
It typifies the bond between the young resident of Emmen and the mayor. Jasmijn has already experienced a lot of misery in her young life. At the age of 8 she was diagnosed with bone cancer. Severe treatments follow. She is now doing a lot better and is now taking action.
She participates in the event as an ambassador Walk and Dance to Fight Cancer. This is a sponsored tour to raise money for cancer research. The two Emmen residents will run the five kilometers together on June 23. “So that other children don’t have it so hard. That they don’t have to have a lot of chemo and don’t have to undergo treatment for so long. I don’t want any more children to get sick, which is what my boyfriend also died from,” Jasmijn says combatively.
“I picked Jasmijn up when she was very ill. I stood around her together with a lot of people from Emmen. If you can help her like that, that’s great.” Jasmijn and Van Oosterhout have become great friends over the past two years. He meets her at the age of 8 when she is critically ill and battling bone cancer.
Many Emmen residents have gotten to know the now teenager. During the celebration of FC Emmen on the Raadhuisplein in Emmen in 2022, she is lifted onto the stage by the players with wheelchairs and all and she proudly shows the championship scale to the thousands of people in the audience. She also attends a club match as a guest of honor of Mayor Van Oosterhout.
Then she was still in a wheelchair, now they walk together. “I am very proud, I think this is very nice,” says a visibly emotional mayor. “It really means something to me. We have three daughters of our own and they have become completely healthy. When you see a girl like that suffer, it is terrible. When you, as mayor, stand around it together with the people of Emmen and you see Enjoying such a girl on the stage of FC Emmen… When I think of my best moment as mayor, Jasmijn is in my top three.”
Jasmijn has now completed her treatments for over a year and is still in the process of recovery. Walking with the mayor may look easy and fun, but it is actually top sport for her. “It’s very tough. But with something like this it’s less tough because it’s fun and you’re encouraged. Mom says I can walk an extra hundred meters because of that encouragement.”
In addition to her physiotherapy, she is now fully exercising and now covers approximately 1,600 meters in one go. Five thousand meters are scheduled for June 23.
“Yes, it will be exciting to see whether she makes it,” says mother Saskia Nijhuis. “But Jasmijn will cross the finish line, no matter what. She takes a scooter with her for when she gets tired. She can take the mayor by the hand. She can sit on our back for a bit, but we will make sure she reaches that finish line. “
And the start and finish of the walking tour is at Raadhuisplein in Emmen. Jasmijn has now practiced that part a lot. Jasmijn and the mayor are sponsored to raise money for charity. In addition to Emmen, the event is held in several places, with its own ambassador everywhere. In Drenthe you can also participate in Hoogeveen and Assen.
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