Former Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal, who is currently the manager of the Netherlands, has now revealed that he has a rare form of prostate cancer. Although this type of cancer has a very successful survival rate of 90%, he has a rare type that will be harder to beat. He has already taken 25 different radiation treatments.
The Netherlands manager didn’t reveal his health condition before as he didn’t want to distract his players from qualifying for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. The Netherlands has been drawn into Group A with Qatar, Ecuador and Senegal, so Louis van Gaal felt it was the right time to reveal his health condition.
Netherlands manager Louis van Gaal reveals that he is suffering from prostate cancer
The 70-year-old made this announcement on the Dutch TV programme Humberto on Sunday, while he was promoting a new documentary on his life.
Voetbal International picked up the following quote, via Marca: “In each period during my time as manager of the National Team I had to leave in the night to go to the hospital without the players finding it out until now. While thinking I was healthy. But.. I am not. I think you don’t tell people you work with like that because it might influence their choices, their decisiveness. So I thought they shouldn’t know. You don’t die from prostate cancer, at least not in ninety percent of the cases. It is usually other underlying diseases that kill you. But I had a pretty aggressive form, got irradiated 25 times. Then you have a lot of management to do in order to go through life. I did have preferential treatment in the hospital. I was allowed in through the back door when I went to an appointment and was immediately pushed into another room. I have been treated wonderfully. You will of course tell your friends and relatives about it. The fact that nothing has come out yet also says something about my environment. That’s great.”
Louis van Gaal’s first wife, Fernanda Obbes, died in 1994 after she was diagnosed with liver and pancreatic cancer.
He added: “I’ve been through a lot with illnesses, including with my own wife. So that’s just part of life. [I] as a human being have probably become richer because of all those experiences.”.
Louis van Gaal is a great manager which can be seen from his league title win with clubs like Barcelona, Bayern Munich, AZ Alkmaar and Ajax. He also won the UEFA Champions League with Ajax in 1995. He also had a two-year spell at Manchester United and won the FA Cup.
He is currently in his third spell as the coach of the Netherlands. He has previously led them to a third-place finish at the 2014 World Cup and hopes to lead them further in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
Read: Netherlands manager Louis Van Gaal advises Erik ten Hag to turn down the Manchester United offer
