PREFACE
"FRANS PAYMANS HAS WRITTEN A BOOK." "WHO?"
On hearing my name reactions will vary, from "Who is that again" to "Never heard of".
That is not strange because although I played a few hundred matches in the Dutch premier and first league in the 1980s, I have always been in the shadow of the big players, to name Cruyff, Van Hanegem, Van Basten, and Gullit but a few. But I think quite a few people will still remember me as a player of the Dutch football club NEC (pronounced in its city of Nijmegen as en-ie-sie).
I have won matches and I have lost them. But I have also missed out on some, most importantly on the match between my club NEC and FC Barcelona. Because I was stuck in the-then GDR, the German Democratic Republic. Because I needed to follow my heart. But more about that later on.
Strange word really: match. Referring to two things that go together but also to a competition. I have competed in matches. I have fought in life. But there are more football players who have also had to struggle in life. Men like Kieft, Van der Gijp and Depay, they all have their own match to compete in.
I managed to win my most important match in the nick of time, in injury time. A rare form of cancer that almost killed me. This book is about me. But then again it is not. It is also about the people who have experienced the same or who are currently ill. With this book I hope to encourage them, show them that with fighting spirit you can achieve more than you think. That you should never give up, although you definitely need a big dose of luck.
So a book for everyone who has to do with that terrible C-disease and for my fans of course, who I certainly still have. Who, for example, held up a beautiful, massive banner to wish me well during the match between NEC and Feyenoord in 'De Goffert' stadium in 2012.
The majority of the proceeds from this book will go to the Matchis foundation, which found a suitable stem cell donor for me and to the KWF (Koningin Wilhelmina Fonds for cancer research). Thanks to them, the medical staff and the nurses of the Radboud UMC (University Medical Centre) in Nijmegen, I am still here. For me it worked, for others unfortunately it did not. There is still so much we do not know in the fight against this disease.
Therefore, thank you for purchasing my book, my story.
It helps others to also win that important match.
Frans Paymans
