“My sister Alicia died last year aged fifteen. She was always the fastest on the hockey pitch, but then suddenly she fell ill and it became clear that she had an aggressive form of bone cancer,” tells Elano Franken, first-year TU/e student of Sustainable Innovation. Franken explains that during her stay at Princess Máxima Center, Alicia came across the Outreach Program of World Child Cancer. “It's a program that helps children with cancer in poor countries, including Kenya. My sister decided to support this program so that these children too would have the chance to take exercise.” Helping others has always been in the picture. “Before this my sister and I had organized a donation campaign for underprivileged children in Columbia. That was a fabulous experience.”

30 thousand euros

For the Outreach Program, Alicia turned to her school, ORS Lek en Linge, which was immediately keen to collect money by hosting a run. “A week before she died, Alicia was still spurring on her classmates. After her death, her hockey club continued this campaign, together with our parents." All this activity pushed the counter up to 30 thousand euros. As he started his degree at TU/e, Franken was preoccupied with the idea of continuing the campaign. “So I asked my jaarclub (year-group club) whether they wanted to join me in putting on a charity event and everyone's immediate reply was wholeheartedly ‘yes’."

And that wasn't the end of it: the whole association was enthusiastic about the campaign. And so it became a real occasion for teambuilding and coming together after the strict lockdown period. The enthusiasm shown by the E.S.C gave Franken and his family a boost. “My fellow club members never knew my sister so it was wonderful to see how everyone made such an effort for her like this. In this way Alicia's strength, passion for sports and love of life live on.”