At the End of 2025

The Quiet Glow Within

At the End of 2025

As the year 2025 draws to a close, I find myself writing a new blog once again. I took some time to reflect on what I wanted to share this time. There are countless topics I could write about, but I chose to focus on two themes that are deeply intertwined in my life: health and art.

Art and Health

Not long ago, I watched neurologist Bastiaan Bloem speak on the Dutch television program Eva about a research project he initiated into the effects of creating and experiencing art for people with Parkinson’s disease. His story resonated with me deeply. From personal experience, I know how powerful art can be as a form of therapy when living with a chronic illness. Although I do not have Parkinson’s, I do live with a multi-system disorder that comes with many comparable symptoms. I want to touch on this as well, because if my story can help even one person, it is worth sharing.

One mind, Another road

Living With Chronic Illness

At the end of 2015, I went to my general practitioner with an overwhelming list of symptoms. I was surviving rather than truly living. After blood tests, a vitamin B12 deficiency was discovered. Unfortunately, a great deal went wrong in the treatment that followed. As a result, my list of symptoms grew longer and more severe. It was not until 2017, through the B12 Institute in Rotterdam, that I finally received the correct treatment for an absorption problem and neurological complaints: hydroxocobalamin injections. By then, however, irreversible damage had already occurred. In 2019, I was diagnosed in Maastricht with small fiber neuropathy, caused by years of vitamin B12 deficiency, incorrect treatment, and the added misfortune of a hereditary condition.

Losing Work, Finding Space

At the time, I was working as a nurse (personal support worker) in disability care and also as a confidential counselor for inappropriate behavior. In 2016, I had to go on sick leave. After three and a half years of struggle involving occupational physicians, my employer, reintegration agencies, and the Dutch benefits system, I was finally granted peace and space to focus on recovery when I was declared 100% unfit for work. During the final phase of that process, I began doing volunteer work—visiting an elderly person for one hour a week—which I continued afterward. It was never a lack of willingness to work; my body simply could no longer do what I wanted it to do. To this day, I still volunteer for one hour a week, now supporting children with language development. Even in this small way, it means a great deal to me to be able to contribute something to society.

Finding Connection Through Photography

Because of my chronic condition, I found my way to X (then Twitter). I initially shared information about vitamin B12 deficiency to warn and help others. Occasionally, I would also share a photograph I had taken. Over the years, that balance shifted. I began sharing more of my photography and less medical information. Slowly, I built a kind of international circle of friends—fellow photographers from all over the world—while my social circle at home became smaller. Not working anymore, having very limited energy, and being unable to keep up all played a role in that. Thankfully, I still have a few close friends who truly understand, and my family has stood by me through everything.

Art as Therapy and Expression

In 2022, I minted my first NFTs—Non-Fungible Tokens. With the occasional sale and, of course, the necessary costs, it remains a hobby rather than a source of income. What matters most to me is the process: photographing, editing, and in recent years, creating AI-generated art and refining it further. This creative process gives me distraction from the daily pain caused by small fiber neuropathy. It also gives me a language when words fall short, a way to express myself, to process what I have experienced, and to give those experiences a place.

Thistles – Lighten up after the dark

A Voice That Travels the World

The pride and fulfillment I feel when one of my artworks is included in an exhibition is immense. My art travels to places in the world I have never been to and may never visit: Dubai, New York, Miami, to name a few. Knowing that my work can help others heal, just as it helps me, is incredibly meaningful. I share my art with pride through The 34 Gallery online. Art gives me a voice in this world. It is also a small piece of history, something that will remain long after I am gone.

FotoGraaGHanneke