Tuesday, August 24, 2021 at 07:14• Daniel Cabot Kerkdijk

Marco van den Wildenberg received an impressive farewell in front of tens of thousands of spectators last Sunday in the half-time of the competition match between Feyenoord and Go Ahead Eagles (2-0). The terminally ill supporter will take his own life on September 1 at the age of fifty. The applause and the chanting of the fans in the home of Feyenoord touched him in the middle of the field to the depths of his soul. “It was so beautiful.”

The images of the grand farewell in De Kuip have been viewed tens of thousands of times on social media. Van den Wildenberg stood behind the bar of his parents’ family café ‘t Vinkje for decades and got to know many Feyenoord supporters there. The man liked to act as a deejay and called himself DJ Provox, referring to the name of the tube that sits between his esophagus and airways. He got it when he was nineteen, after an operation for throat cancer.

Forever in our hearts.. @djprovox #Feyenoord #rotterdamsouth pic.twitter.com/mWJEAAwLsV

— Jeannette (@Jeannet93890433) August 22, 2021

Van den Wildenberg recorded the single Follow your dreams and Paul de Leeuw and TMF paid attention to his life. A few years ago, the disease suddenly returned. He leaves behind his wife, five children and a stepson. “For me it is good. I’ve had a very nice life. I think it’s especially bad for my youngest daughter,” he says in conversation with the General Newspaper.

A good friend organized the farewell in De Kuip for Van den Wildenberg, who went out on the grass with his son Joey. The fanatic supporters had already unfolded the banner ‘Marco, forever in our hearts’ in the twelfth minute. “It’s so nice that we were able to do this together, a memory for the rest of my life. Feyenoord is and will remain our club”, says his son.

“I still get goosebumps from the deafening noise,” says Marco. “The whole second half I sat on my seat thinking about what had happened to me. How beautiful this was!”