Daisy Nabben

Hi!

I’m Daisy Nabben. Depending on when you read this, I’ll be 41 or 42 years old. Married to Jacques and very proud mother of Ruben, Lise and Jules. In daily life I am an entrepreneur and I have a nice team of administrators and mentors in my company “Bij Nabben”.

On March 28, 2022, my life, and the lives of my loved ones, changed drastically. I had just been a proud mother of our youngest for 3 months when I discovered a lump in my breast. At the insistence of my best friend, I went to the GP and then referred to the Mamapoli of the Viecuri.

Against all the doctors’ expectations, it turned out to be triple negative breast cancer. A violent time began. 16 rounds of chemotherapy and 2 surgeries followed, the last of which was on my birthday in 2023. During the rehabilitation after my last operation, I signed up for Maastrichts mooiste.

I looked for sponsors and collected a nice amount for the KWF. For me, this felt like a closure to this difficult period.

But I want to go further.

Getting everything out of life that is given to me and not shying away from challenges. Doing things that are out of your comfort zone often create the best memories. That’s how I live my life now. For years I have been familiar with running but never really got further than 5 km.

I also always shouted “I’m not going to do Venloop, I don’t feel any need to run over the parade with an exploded head”. It feels only logical to me that I am going to do this now. Together with the stars of the dream team and our super trainer Henk, I hope to finally be able to run the 10 km in 2024. I felt like that would really feel like a new beginning.

I’m going to give it my best effort!

Six months ago, I signed up for the dream team.

Somewhat tense, I arrived at our first meeting. Not knowing what an adventure this was going to be. 7 very different people with their own stories. What bonded us immediately was the fact that we had a goal; to run the 10 km on 24 March 2024. Each with their own motivation.

A few days later, we went straight into the match. Our trainer Henk was incisive from the start. Partly because of him, I soon realised that I was holding myself back unnecessarily. I could do more than I thought! Until I was injured in early November. A nasty shinsplint injury. Weeks, months of physiotherapy and lots of exercises followed. All that time I was not allowed to train, but my teammates, coach and coordinator made sure I kept the feeling of belonging to the team. So heartwarming. In January, I supported my teammates at the New Year’s run. Not much later, in consultation with the physio, I decided to start training again. Not fully recovered, but made a conscious decision to do it. At the moment, I know what I am capable of, I don’t know what I will be like next year. Postponing is not an option! The build-up was taken up seriously by Henk and me and it soon became clear that I could get back over with the rest soon enough. The dress rehearsal at the Berden run was approaching but then I fell seriously ill. I could not participate in the Berden run and shed some tears that I could not join the team. What bad luck!

A few weeks later, I was able to pick up training again, a week before the Venloop. The fever and infections had set me back considerably in terms of fitness, so I was not entirely at ease at the start. Not knowing whether I would last at all. Running out was my goal. I had abandoned the finish time I had given at registration six months earlier. Together with two teammates, we ran the entire Venloop and kept an eye on each other. The support and enthusiasm from the people along the side was incredible and overwhelming, even with the bad weather we had. Goosebumps when I entered the parade, what an insane feeling! For me, the icing on the cake was the fact that I had achieved the time I had imagined six months ago. I was so overwhelmed by everything that I only found out when I got my medal engraved. I am so incredibly proud of myself and my dream team family and wouldn’t have missed it all for anything!

Sincerely,

Daisy Maas – Nabben