Louis van Gaal undergoes successful prostate cancer treatment
The 70-year-old Holland manager revealed this month on Dutch television that he was suffering an “aggressive” form of the illness
Holland manager Louis van Gaal has said that the radiation treatment he has undergone to treat his prostate cancer has been successful.
The 70-year-old Holland manager revealed this month on Dutch television that he was suffering an “aggressive” form of the illness.
Van Gaal, who managed Manchester United for two seasons between 2014 and 2016, will lead Holland at the World Cup in Qatar, which starts in November, before stepping down from the job.
“I’ve been through everything,” Van Gaal told the Dutch news agency ANP. “I had 25 radiation treatments. Then I had to wait five or six months to see if it had done its job. It did.”
Van Gaal, whose first wife, Fernanda Obbes, died of liver and pancreatic cancer in 1994, admitted that he did not tell the Holland players of his condition before revealing his disease to RTL on the television show Humberto during a live appearance while promoting his new documentary Louis.
He said: “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.
“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 90 per cent 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.”
Van Gaal won the FA Cup in his final game in charge of United in 2016 before he was sacked, and he is presently in his third stint as manager of the Dutch national team.
Van Gaal, who will be replaced by the former Southampton, Everton and Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman after the World Cup, also paid tribute to the excellent treatment he has received and the staff that helped him.
“I did have preferential treatment in the hospital,” he said. “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.”
Holland will face the World Cup hosts Qatar, Senegal and Ecuador in the group stage at the tournament.
