so how can we stay happy and positive
irregardless of whatever happens in your
life
I had a carefree childhood I was born
under a lucky star at the age of 21 I
moved to the beautiful mountains of
Switzerland where I did what I loved
most and I became one of the best
snowboarders in the world at the age of
27 in the year 2000 my life changed
completely cancer bone cancer in my
lower leg right above my ankle joint and
since the tumour was already in the
periosteum I had no other option than to
choose for amputation
although the doctors told me I would
never stop snow bird again I was
determined to pick up my passion and
only 7 months later I was back on my
snowboard competing at the Dutch
championships and winning myself a gold
medal
[Applause]
[Music]
that day I did not only win a gold medal
no I thought I’d beaten cancer the boy
was I wrong
because in years 2004 up until 2015 the
cancer came back five times in my lungs
and each time the doctor had to cut
pieces of my lung and it made 2016 again
the cancer was back but this time in my
Heelys and to be honest I had no idea
what a Heelys was well I’ve learned it’s
a central spot in your body just above
your lungs and since my tumor doesn’t
respond to chemotherapy and radiation
therapy or surgery were too dangerous in
that area the doctor sent me home with
the message I’m sorry baby you are going
to die
that evening I had to do the most heart
hard thing in my life I had to tell my
children that I was going to die but we
always tell our children no matter how
bad the situation might look never ever
let it ruin your future that evening we
had a good cry and we ended up in a
restaurant celebrating life and the next
few months
I slept amazingly well but my husband
didn’t he surged to the internet for
hours and hours trying to look for a
solution and he found out there was a
new way of radiation therapy I wonder
went that therapy and look I’m still
here
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
in the summer of 2017 I decided to take
a little break from snoring and normally
speaking I’m always training in winter
time in summer time on the glacier but
now we decided to go for the first time
in six years to a summer holiday and
when we got back I had the support
medical exam and again they found some
tumor this time in my neck this was also
obviously a shock but on top of that I
also got this bacterial infection this
made me really weak lost totally all my
powers I got into the hospital didn’t
eat for about two weeks time lost 10
kilos and by the time I was at that time
I was in a wheelchair almost could
barely walk and was totally weak and low
at that point we had to start radiation
therapy and after halfway down my
therapy I was feeling so weak that we
asked the doctors if we could take a
little break I started slowly eating
again I got stronger and by the time I
was strong enough to resume my therapy
it was all ready to eat because my
vertebra was about to collapse and if
that would happen I would break my neck
and that would put me in a wheelchair
permanently luckily my doctors always
look for solutions and they told me they
wanted to remove my vertebrae and give
me a new vertebrae out of titanium I
asked the doctor if I had any other
option and then then they basically said
billion I’m sorry to tell you no you
have to do this but if we do this
hopefully you’ll be back on your
snowboard as soon as possible so on the
3rd of January this year after a surgery
of 16 hours I woke up with this
beautiful neck neck out of titanium how
do you like my permanent jewelry
yeah the past 18 years have been a
roller coaster of a lot of lows
but luckily also some beautiful highs I
never stop dreaming and I always kept
following my passion I started a lobby
and got snowboarding into the Paralympic
program I won one hundred and twenty
eight gold medals of of which seven
times world champion and three gold
medals at the Paralympic Games at the
same time I’m a proud mother of three
beautiful children a beautiful 15 year
old son and two beautiful stepdaughters
of 19 years old I’m an author of four
books and our work is a motivational
speaker and I started my own foundation
because I truly believe that mentality
mentality can make a big difference I’ve
experienced it myself within one week of
time I went from being an athlete to
being a disabled person and as an
athlete funny thing is that people tend
to look up to you they put you on a
pedestal and think you’re capable of
doing everything you eat healthy you
don’t drink any alcohol but a week later
I was all of a sudden disabled and now
people were telling me what I could not
do and this made me really rebellious
because let’s be honest the more and
more people were telling me what I could
not do the more I was I wanted to prove
them wrong and up until now 18 years
later I still have never found anything
yet what I cannot do because of the fact
that I’m missing a leg and if I can do
that I’m pretty sure other people can do
that too with a physical disability so
that’s basically what we try to show
with our mentality foundation just show
kids and youngsters what they’re still
capable of doing with although they’re
having a physical disability well this
is basically the backbone of my life
and back to the question so how do we
stay happy and positive irregardless of
whatever happens in your life and what
you’re a part of gold at the end of that
rainbow well I always try to live by
five very simple rules and I’d like to
share them with you
rule number one focus on the
possibilities instead of the disability
don’t ever let society tell you what you
cannot do for example my leg after my
amputation seven months later I was back
on my snowboard winning a gold medal
then rule number two you always have a
choice in life maybe you’ll have to
choose between two evils but you know
what you just have to do it and it will
be your choice life can be scary life’s
not easy but did we ever solve problems
by worrying life is like jumping off a
cliff being scared to crash but you know
you will crash it will happen the only
thing you don’t know is how high is that
cliff and how long will it take before
you crash so are we going to worry the
whole flight down or are we going to
enjoy the slide well um
rule number three and this has to do
with ostriches because I believe that
ostriches might not be as stupid as you
think they are stick your head into the
ground from time to time
obviously this is not going to solve any
of your problems
but it is going to release you from your
sorrow and maybe have some time to have
fun as well during the doing that and
obviously who’d look very funny if more
a man once asked me baby and how can you
stay positive knowing that death is
standing on your doorstep well I’ve got
bad news for you because death is
sitting next to everyone in Europe alone
5,000 perfectly healthy people go to bed
every night not making it until the end
of next day I might know that cancer
could be my death name but if we talk
about only this year I’m more likely to
die in a car accident or heart attack or
maybe in an avalanche this gets me to
new rule number four collect memories
instead of chasing possessions because
if you ask the elderly what they cherish
and remember most in life they will not
show you pictures of a beautiful house
or car no they will tell you beautiful
stories about all the beautiful memories
they have now my last and final rule
rule number five to me is the most
important never ever stop dreaming and
always keep following your passion
because I truly believe that if you keep
following your passion you automatically
become the best version of yourself
which means the best partner the best
friend and the best mother this coming
Monday I’ll have to go to the hospital
again and I already know that there’s
some spots growing in my lungs again and
we’ll have to see what we can do about
this but you know what tomorrow morning
I’ll be taking off flying to Barcelona
and I’ll eat tapas I’ll drink wine I’ll
dance I’ll make love to my husband
because life’s not measured by how many
breaths we take no it’s about the
moments that take our breath away thank
you very much you
irregardless of whatever happens in your
life
I had a carefree childhood I was born
under a lucky star at the age of 21 I
moved to the beautiful mountains of
Switzerland where I did what I loved
most and I became one of the best
snowboarders in the world at the age of
27 in the year 2000 my life changed
completely cancer bone cancer in my
lower leg right above my ankle joint and
since the tumour was already in the
periosteum I had no other option than to
choose for amputation
although the doctors told me I would
never stop snow bird again I was
determined to pick up my passion and
only 7 months later I was back on my
snowboard competing at the Dutch
championships and winning myself a gold
medal
[Applause]
[Music]
that day I did not only win a gold medal
no I thought I’d beaten cancer the boy
was I wrong
because in years 2004 up until 2015 the
cancer came back five times in my lungs
and each time the doctor had to cut
pieces of my lung and it made 2016 again
the cancer was back but this time in my
Heelys and to be honest I had no idea
what a Heelys was well I’ve learned it’s
a central spot in your body just above
your lungs and since my tumor doesn’t
respond to chemotherapy and radiation
therapy or surgery were too dangerous in
that area the doctor sent me home with
the message I’m sorry baby you are going
to die
that evening I had to do the most heart
hard thing in my life I had to tell my
children that I was going to die but we
always tell our children no matter how
bad the situation might look never ever
let it ruin your future that evening we
had a good cry and we ended up in a
restaurant celebrating life and the next
few months
I slept amazingly well but my husband
didn’t he surged to the internet for
hours and hours trying to look for a
solution and he found out there was a
new way of radiation therapy I wonder
went that therapy and look I’m still
here
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
in the summer of 2017 I decided to take
a little break from snoring and normally
speaking I’m always training in winter
time in summer time on the glacier but
now we decided to go for the first time
in six years to a summer holiday and
when we got back I had the support
medical exam and again they found some
tumor this time in my neck this was also
obviously a shock but on top of that I
also got this bacterial infection this
made me really weak lost totally all my
powers I got into the hospital didn’t
eat for about two weeks time lost 10
kilos and by the time I was at that time
I was in a wheelchair almost could
barely walk and was totally weak and low
at that point we had to start radiation
therapy and after halfway down my
therapy I was feeling so weak that we
asked the doctors if we could take a
little break I started slowly eating
again I got stronger and by the time I
was strong enough to resume my therapy
it was all ready to eat because my
vertebra was about to collapse and if
that would happen I would break my neck
and that would put me in a wheelchair
permanently luckily my doctors always
look for solutions and they told me they
wanted to remove my vertebrae and give
me a new vertebrae out of titanium I
asked the doctor if I had any other
option and then then they basically said
billion I’m sorry to tell you no you
have to do this but if we do this
hopefully you’ll be back on your
snowboard as soon as possible so on the
3rd of January this year after a surgery
of 16 hours I woke up with this
beautiful neck neck out of titanium how
do you like my permanent jewelry
yeah the past 18 years have been a
roller coaster of a lot of lows
but luckily also some beautiful highs I
never stop dreaming and I always kept
following my passion I started a lobby
and got snowboarding into the Paralympic
program I won one hundred and twenty
eight gold medals of of which seven
times world champion and three gold
medals at the Paralympic Games at the
same time I’m a proud mother of three
beautiful children a beautiful 15 year
old son and two beautiful stepdaughters
of 19 years old I’m an author of four
books and our work is a motivational
speaker and I started my own foundation
because I truly believe that mentality
mentality can make a big difference I’ve
experienced it myself within one week of
time I went from being an athlete to
being a disabled person and as an
athlete funny thing is that people tend
to look up to you they put you on a
pedestal and think you’re capable of
doing everything you eat healthy you
don’t drink any alcohol but a week later
I was all of a sudden disabled and now
people were telling me what I could not
do and this made me really rebellious
because let’s be honest the more and
more people were telling me what I could
not do the more I was I wanted to prove
them wrong and up until now 18 years
later I still have never found anything
yet what I cannot do because of the fact
that I’m missing a leg and if I can do
that I’m pretty sure other people can do
that too with a physical disability so
that’s basically what we try to show
with our mentality foundation just show
kids and youngsters what they’re still
capable of doing with although they’re
having a physical disability well this
is basically the backbone of my life
and back to the question so how do we
stay happy and positive irregardless of
whatever happens in your life and what
you’re a part of gold at the end of that
rainbow well I always try to live by
five very simple rules and I’d like to
share them with you
rule number one focus on the
possibilities instead of the disability
don’t ever let society tell you what you
cannot do for example my leg after my
amputation seven months later I was back
on my snowboard winning a gold medal
then rule number two you always have a
choice in life maybe you’ll have to
choose between two evils but you know
what you just have to do it and it will
be your choice life can be scary life’s
not easy but did we ever solve problems
by worrying life is like jumping off a
cliff being scared to crash but you know
you will crash it will happen the only
thing you don’t know is how high is that
cliff and how long will it take before
you crash so are we going to worry the
whole flight down or are we going to
enjoy the slide well um
rule number three and this has to do
with ostriches because I believe that
ostriches might not be as stupid as you
think they are stick your head into the
ground from time to time
obviously this is not going to solve any
of your problems
but it is going to release you from your
sorrow and maybe have some time to have
fun as well during the doing that and
obviously who’d look very funny if more
a man once asked me baby and how can you
stay positive knowing that death is
standing on your doorstep well I’ve got
bad news for you because death is
sitting next to everyone in Europe alone
5,000 perfectly healthy people go to bed
every night not making it until the end
of next day I might know that cancer
could be my death name but if we talk
about only this year I’m more likely to
die in a car accident or heart attack or
maybe in an avalanche this gets me to
new rule number four collect memories
instead of chasing possessions because
if you ask the elderly what they cherish
and remember most in life they will not
show you pictures of a beautiful house
or car no they will tell you beautiful
stories about all the beautiful memories
they have now my last and final rule
rule number five to me is the most
important never ever stop dreaming and
always keep following your passion
because I truly believe that if you keep
following your passion you automatically
become the best version of yourself
which means the best partner the best
friend and the best mother this coming
Monday I’ll have to go to the hospital
again and I already know that there’s
some spots growing in my lungs again and
we’ll have to see what we can do about
this but you know what tomorrow morning
I’ll be taking off flying to Barcelona
and I’ll eat tapas I’ll drink wine I’ll
dance I’ll make love to my husband
because life’s not measured by how many
breaths we take no it’s about the
moments that take our breath away thank
you very much you
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