The life of goalkeeper Miguel Van Damme has come to an end far too soon. In 2014, heaven fell on his head when he learned that he had been diagnosed with cancer. It was the start of a long road that left no one unmoved.
June 2014: disaster strikes
It is 2014 and Miguel Van Damme has just made his debut in the first team of Cercle Brugge. Trainer Lorenzo Staelens sees the young goalkeeper as his regular number 1 in the second division. But suddenly Van Damme’s carefree life takes a nasty turn.
While preparing for the new season, the doctors at Cercle see that something is not right. Leukemia as it turned out. The treatment is started immediately.
March 2017: battle seems over
A little less than a year later, Van Damme is again declared cured. The sun shines again on the life of the goalkeeper, who takes his place under the bar again and may even extend his contract with Cercle. Green-black would continue to do that until the end of Van Damme’s battle, even though he hadn’t played in recent years.
June 2018: Marriage to Kyana
A dark period has given way to supreme happiness, when Van Damme tied the knot with Kyana Dobbelaere in the summer of 2018. The goalkeeper had proposed to her shortly after receiving the good news of his recovery. A page seems to have turned, ready for a new chapter.
June 2019: cancer resurfaces
The happiness is short-lived. One year after the wedding, the sky falls on Van Damme’s head again: The entire football world sympathizes with the story of Cercle’s goalkeeper. Suddenly club colors don’t seem important anymore. Every match where Van Damme shows up, supporters of both parties support him.
During this period, Van Damme also openly testified about his difficult battle against leukemia. Hopeful messages alternate with more gloomy forecasts. But Van Damme never gives up hope.
September 2020: finished, but not tired
Van Damme repeatedly mentions the word “miracle” during this difficult period. But the sobering up follows in September. No treatment, chemotherapy or bone marrow transplant seems to work.
“As long as there is a little hope, I will continue to believe in it,” says Van Damme. “I never give up.” During that period, he mainly clings to his girlfriend’s pregnancy. His last hope is to ever hold his daughter in his arms again.
May 2021: birth of daughter Camille
Van Damme’s wish comes true. In May 2021, he and his wife Kyana will welcome their daughter Camille. “A silent wish, a deep longing. You have captured our wish by happiness”, writes the proud father.
September 2021: a miracle after all?
A few months after Camille’s birth, there is suddenly an unexpected twist in Van Damme’s story: the doctors no longer find any traces of leukemia in his blood. He even quietly starts training again at Cercle Brugge. “I’m not talking about a cure yet, but for now I’m enjoying it.”
March 2022: the final goodbye
The flare-up in Van Damme’s clinical picture would ultimately be no more than a horrific whim of nature. One month after the positive news, the cancer is visible again.
The whole of Flanders sympathizes with Van Damme’s struggle, also thanks to the documentary by reporter Eric Goens. Van Damme is even nominated for the Flemish Giant Trophy.
In recent months, Van Damme has been less and less in the media. He had fought his battle in front of the cameras for years, also to inspire other people. But that had to make way for a more personal and intimate fight.
Together with his wife and daughter, whose first birthday he had just missed, he had to say goodbye to the life to which he had clung admirably for so long.
