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Oscar Wagner
26-6-1975 / 24-12-2015
Hier hoort u het muzieknummer ‘Zandloper’ van Typhoon. Ook tijdens de afscheidsdienst werd dit nummer gespeeld. Eventueel kunt u het geluid uitzetten op de player hieronder.
Eindhoven, 24 december 2015 – Vandaag bereikte ons het ongelooflijke bericht dat ook Oscar Wagner niet meer bij ons is. Hij heeft moedig zijn leven met de ziekte ALS aangegaan, maar moest nu toch met opgeheven hoofd het strijdtoneel verlaten. Vandaag is hij rustig ingeslapen.
We hebben Oscar en Michelle vooral leren kennen tijdens ons Wintercamp in februari 2015. Zijn humor, directheid en zijn opvallende verschijning waren een grote aanwinst voor de groep. We hebben ontzettend veel plezier met elkaar beleefd, maar ook best wel een traantje gelaten van verdriet.
De reis heeft ook heel veel nieuwe vriendschappen opgeleverd. Via Facebook, maar ook tijdens bezoekjes aan elkaar is er in de tijd die tot zijn afscheid volgde nog heel veel ‘kwaliteit van leven toegevoegd’. Daar zijn wij hem dankbaar voor.
Wat verheugden wij ons erop om er weer een keer met elkaar op uit te gaan, maar het mocht helaas niet zo zijn. Oscar had een ander draaiboek voor ogen en hoe moeijlijk het ook was,, we hebben zijn moedige besluit natuurlijk geaccepteerd.
We wensen lieve Michelle, familie en vrienden heel veel sterkte met het verlies van hun onnavolgbare ‘beergeek’ Oscar. En natuurlijk blijft Michelle van harte welkom bij Topsport for Life.
Bestuur Topsport for Life
Oscar heeft zijn afscheid helemaal in eigen hand gehouden en heeft de volgende brief achter gelaten:
“I’m always ready to fight for things I care about but my fight with ALS kept on getting more unfair during the months. In the early stages we already spoke about that I would love to have a my funeral on the day before new year’s eve which was always pretty special to me. Fireworks, bigger parties, totally different vibe, loved it. With this day getting closer my body became worse and worse and I needed assistance with literally everything. I didn’t want any form of life-support, 24-7 homecare and so on. Michelle and I discussed this topic more and more often and concluded it is time to say goodbye.
Looking back on my life I can say I did everything God forbid, raves, drugs, drinking, partying, this all excessive, I wasn’t the best employee in the world in my younger days and had some contact with the police. As you got older you chill out a bit but I was still that 37 year old big guy in the pit at parties. Than that ALS bitch comes along made you stop being a DJ after 20 years, that wasn’t easy to give up. I already had love for craft beer and more time on my hands I needed to kill time so I started reading about online but when I was invited to a FB group called Beer Geeks (thanks Marc, LuL! ) that was it.. Hooked!
In past 2.5 years I got pretty inked up, Bas thanks it meant a lot, jumped out of plane twice, went to Portugal with an awesome group of people, thanks Topsport for life, went on multiple road trips to get beers all over the Netherlands and Belgium, had some epic tastings and beer festivals. Met so many awesome people.
I want to thanks Thijs, he opened doors at the Westvleteren abbey that normally would be shut for the common people. Introduced me to American stouts and spoiled me with gifts. Love you Grijsje, my battiboy for life.
The craft beer community did so much for me. Bob designing shirts and more. Dagmar the crazy Sprout lady with her crazy ideas which result in brewing at/with Ramses and Fabian. There were some pretty awesome in real life friendship built from just the love of good beer.
And there is Rens, we can write a small book about the pre and ALS period. We were and kept being a couple of nutcases together. Nothing changed in the way you treated me. “He’s got ALS, so? ” became some sort of slogan.
Dumbass even got an Oscar approves tattoo, that meant so much! Thanks for all the laughs and help.
Made some bad choices the past year resulting being more isolated and not as much outside as I wished I did. Being pretty stubborn doesn’t help either. The past months I could really relate to the elderly and alike. People should make more time for the people at home(s) . Even a quick visit, just say hi, have a drink, give a hug and continue with your own things. A 15 minute visit can mean the world to someone.
I want to thank everybody who supported me the through this tough journey. My medical team in Gemini hospital, thanks guys you were awesome. Friends & close family thanks you so much. To all the FB “friends”, I don’t even feel remotely sorry for all the BS I filled your timelines with. wink-emoticon
And last but most utterly not least my brother from another mother Patrick being there just in the background, you and Jacq were literally always there when the shit hit the fan. There are no words to describe the gratitude.
Hope you will support us like you did the past years and make final journey one hell of a party!
Please celebrate my life and don’t grief my death.
With love,
Oscar.
Ps. Remember, a shared beer always tastes better.
PPs. Be more careful with this globe you live on, you only got one!”
Hieronder enkele foto’s van Oscar tijdens het Topsport for Life Wintercamp in de Algarve (Portugal), februari 2015.
Overige foto’s:
