Florence project makes a tremendous impact on participants
Last weekend, amazing things happened because of the Florence project. A weekend full of emotion and joy for those who need it most. Our colleague Lisa van den Boer reported about these wonderful experiences.
”On Friday 22 April, FC Emmen – Roda JC was on the agenda, an exciting match because FC Emmen had the chance to become champions. During this match, we could give a real FC Emmen supporter the chance to see the match from the Princess Maxima Medical Centre. Jasmijn was diagnosed with bone cancer earlier this year and was therefore in the hospital during the match because of her surgery earlier this week.
Jasmijn was able to control the Florence robot, and due to a live video connection, to see and greet all her favourite players. She was involved in the ESPN interview with the head coach of Roda JC, talked to FC Emmen coach Dick Lukkien, and she interviewed goalkeeper Michael Brouwer. He told Jasmijn that he will give her his goalkeeper gloves from this match when she is back home. The absolute highlight for Jasmijn was that she was able to talk several times with her favourite player Miquel Araujo. When the robot was switched off for a while, she kept asking how long it would take before she could go online again because she wanted to control the robot again so badly. It was very nice to see that Jasmijn could enjoy herself and that the pain and sorrow were far away for a moment.
Unfortunately FC Emmen did not become champions during this match because number two in the table, FC Volendam, won their match against FC Den Bosch. But Jasmijn did not mind, because now she can be at home in Emmen during the championship match.
The day after, on Saturday 23 April, it was time for the match NEC Nijmegen – Ajax. During this match we were able to cheer up a real NEC supporter named Jayro. A 12-year-old boy from Nijmegen with Leukemia who was able to watch the game from his bed at home.
In the beginning it took some time to get used to control the robot, but in the end it went very well. Jayro was able to drive all over the pitch, watch the goalkeepers warm-up from up close, watch the ESPN interview with trainer Rogier Meyer and then interview Rogier himself. He was also introduced by the stadium announcer to all the supporters, who greeted Jayro in the stadium with lots of cheering and clapping. Also, he was allowed onto the field with the players.
Jayro visibly enjoyed being able to attend the game from his home and predicted a 2-1 victory for NEC. The match remained 0-0 for a long time but unfortunately Ajax managed to score the 0-1 in the last minutes.
All in all, it was a successful weekend with the Florence programme and we were able to make two young supporters very happy. And we hope that we can make more people happy in the future.”
EFDN FLORENCE PROGRAMME
The EFDN Florence programme is named after Florence Nightingale and ‘Floor’, the niece of EFDN’s CEO Hubert Rovers who suffered a spinal cord injury at the beginning of 2021 and became paralyzed from the waist down at the age of 14.
The EFDN Florence programme will provide ill children and young people with the opportunity to become the FAN of the Match from a distance. This initiative will see the robot drive onto the pitch together with the players making it possible for a fan who cannot attend the match due to illness to join the warming-up, line-up, watch the game from the sidelines and join the players after the game during their lap of honour.
FAN OF THE MATCH FROM A DISTANCE
The robot is equipped with software that allows real interaction with the robot becoming the mouth, eyes, and ears of the FAN of the Match from a distance. Through an app, the young fan will be able to communicate with his /her favourite players and will be going onto the pitch before the game next to one of the players of their favourite team. The robot will also join the players in the player’s tunnel.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDGS)
