Dying Dutchman’s last wish: To build brain cancer app
AMSTERDAM (AFP) — Dying of a brain tumor, Frederik van den Broek had one last wish on his “bucket list”: serving as his own guinea pig to build a smartphone app for fellow cancer patients.
Now Dutch neurologists said the input from Van den Broek, who died late last month aged 41, has been invaluable in creating what is believed will be the world’s most advanced mobile-based app for cancer patients.
MindApp for Android and iPhone mobiles will allow users with a few simple clicks to track and update appointments such as for radio and chemotherapy, to help remember who their doctors are and even to manage the myriad pills they must take.
It will also allow patients to input data — such as when they have had an epileptic seizure — and “talk” to doctors about their condition without having to come into hospital.
Van den Broek told AFP a few days before his death that his idea for a specialized “brain cancer app” was “born out of pure frustration.”
“The hospital gave me a printout of appointments, which medicines to take, and when, as well as a diagnosis of how long I had to live,” Van den Broek said in an e-mailed interview, his last.
“I lost the printout within an hour. These things happen when you’ve lost a large part of your brain and your short-term memory has gone to pieces,” he said.
Van den Broek was intensively involved in the app’s development, with himself as the guinea pig: deciding the features it should have and even the colors to be used to give patients maximum ease of use.
“Brain tumor patients often suffer from loss of cognitive abilities, for instance memory loss and changes in behavior,” said Jaap Reijneveld, a neurologist at Amsterdam’s Free University Medical Centre (VUMC), who is helping with the app’s development.
“This app will be of huge support to patients, particularly those suffering from glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer that’s often highly malignant,”
Reijneveld of the VUMC’s Brain Tumor Center told AFP.
“Patients have a massively complicated treatment schedule, and the app, the most advanced to date, will help them remember things, but more importantly give constant feedback to us as doctors on the patient’s condition,” he said.
The app complements a growing worldwide trend in which new digital technology allows patients to manage their diseases from home, easing the burden on overstretched healthcare facilities.