Today I went with my friends Jet and Bernhard and their youngest daughter Charlotte to visit Frank. Charlotte is a graduate student from high school who recently won the first prize in a high school competition from the Nijmegen Historical Association NUMAGA. Together with one of her fellow students they developed a bicycle tour around Nijmegen which travels along highlights from Market Garden. During the work on their project Charlotte consulted Frank regularly, and so today she showed him the result, a very beautiful designed booklet, and the certificate of the first prize. Although Frank really had to work hard to recognize Charlotte an her parents, as soon as he heard her name and the project, all the information was immediately there. Frank was on his turn very proud of Charlotte and was very pleased with the booklet she brought him. It always gives him so much pleasure when young people carry on the flame of history. In past situations he commented on such moments always things like "It gives me the feeling that my life isn't waste". Now we all know his life isn't waste but it gives him great strength and reassurance which he really can use by the dozen right now.
It's so good to see that if a subject really appeals to Frank, that is energy and alertness rises instantly. He told Charlotte that he wanted to introduce her to his friends in the UK, who would be most interested (he thought). "But then the booklet has to be translated in English, and Charlotte could use some help with that" I replied. "No problem for me, I'm very capable of translating" Frank answered (and I don't doubt him a second!!!). It gives me the feeling that Frank still wants to contribute to whatever future. He also told us that he was working on a project within the liberation route and that a lot of the content in his head would be needed there. It sounds so future oriented and that feels so good, and with modern technologies it must be made possible to help Frank to deliver whatever he wants to contribute concerning the remembrance WW II and the liberation of western europe.
So one of the modern technologies I mentioned which really could help Frank is an Ipad and a lot of friends already indicated that they want to make a donation, and Andre sees no difficulties to secure the Ipad one way or another.
So for every one of you who want to make donation, here the account number:
name: Esther Meijer-van den Bergh, Nijmegen, Netherlands
bank: ING, account number: 1615112,
and for friends from abroad
IBAN: NL30INGB0001615112
BIC: INGBNL2A
name your donation: IPAD FRANK
We'll make sure that the gifts will get the correct destination, and we'll keep you informed about the progress and will give a transparent insight in the final sum and destination of the money.
On behalf of Frank, thanks to all of you,
Esther
Hi,
BeantwoordenVerwijderentoday I visited Frank for the first time. I arrived unannounced at approx. 17.30h and he was lying in bed watching the worst movie you can imagine (Flash Gordon 2 or something). His room looked to me as the hospital room of a soldier recovering from a war: all the black&white pictures, the books and dvd’s. Must be very comforting to him.
I didn’t know what to to expect, since I didn’t follow this blog since he went to Margriet (I bookmarked a posting, and discovered only tonight that you don’t see the later postings… Sigh). Not sure if he did recognize me I introduced myself and tried to make some conversation. It seemed to me that he had difficulty trying to switch from tv to me and he kept on adjusting the volume. I was happy that he could give some short answers but we both seem to feel uneasy. After 10 minutes I decided it was better to leave and he surprised me by saying my name when I left.
(What struck me as odd was that he used his right hand to scratch his left cheek. Does the paralysis not affect his head or is this a good sign?)
I realise that barging in on somebody in Frank’s condition at dinner time is maybe not such a good idea, and reading all the postings now, I suppose that chocolate eggs are not such a good idea neither. Next time I’ll bring a DVD, although I don’t know I can find something to his taste ;-).
I want to thank you Esther and all the others for the caring way you provided this blog and all the news.
Regards,
Serge
Hi Serge,
BeantwoordenVerwijderenA quick reply. If you click on the top banner of the page, the one that says "Frank van den Bergh" in white letters and then save the link you will always go to the main page and get all the latest and newest messages.
I visited Frank tonight as well. He was tired, a bit unpalatable, so I left to let him rest.
Andre Steenveld.
Esther, as soon as I get home I'll make the donation!
BeantwoordenVerwijderenSerge, from Mathieu I heard that Frank complained about pain in the left side of the body, so it seems he still has at least some sensations there. (Esther, do you know more about that?) As for Flash Gordon, or more likely, Flesh Garden: Frank is known for his taste in atrociously bad movies. In fact, every year he organizes a "Nacht van de Wansmaak" or "Night of Bad Taste", where he and a few friends spend the whole night watching very, very, VERY bad movies.
Walter
PS for Frank's very foreign friends: if your bank starts whining about charges and stuff you can send the money to me via PayPal (account w.zaagman@chello.nl), and I'll make sure it goes to Esther, with a list of who donated of course. I'll also pick up any Paypal charges. DO NOT send any cheques as the banks love to take a big cut when they're cashed.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenWalter
Good idea! But we should probably try to give Frank a chance to TRY an Ipad first though, to see if his hand-eye coordination can handle that? The touch screen might be better than a mouse, or it might be even more difficult to navigate.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenFrank has already tried it, with excellent results. See Esther's response to André's "EEK... MICE!!" message of yesterday.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenWalter
Unfortunately the IPad-on-the-cheap is not possible, the infernal machine still sells so well that not even the Apple employees get a discount. Well, it was worth a try.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenWalter
Walter, as a reply to your message from 26 april 2011 11:49. I have a small correction to make.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenThe "Nacht van de Wansmaak" could be as frequent as weekly (by periods) with up to 6 visitors. :-D
I didn't know that, I only got invited once or twice before Frank realized I'm not the, er, target audience. But considering the amount of absolutely crappy movies he has (some crappy by accident, some intentionally horrible) I should not have been surprised.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenOn the other hand I have a small correction to make: it's not "could be", it's "can be" once a week. Franks'just taking an unforseen break this year ;-).