Together, we turn hope into progress.

Our story

Sometimes a powerful idea emerges in more than one place at once. Carien de Jonge and Robert den Brave each decided that more money was urgently needed for innovative research into effective treatments for pancreatic cancer. Carien was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at the age of 45 and was treated by Professor Casper van Eijck at Erasmus MC in 2013. Robert met Casper after his wife, Désirée Schaepman, was diagnosed with the disease.

Carien and Robert

During her illness, Carien became increasingly inspired by Casper van Eijck's plans to approach cancer treatment in a radically different way. Support Casper began with her idea, although her illness left her with less and less energy to lead it herself. Carien died on 22 May 2015. Afterwards, her friends and colleagues set out to make her idea a reality. Her extensive network in journalism, the creative sector and IT in and around Rotterdam joined forces to launch the Support Casper campaign. The website went live on 6 November 2015, while volunteers developed the campaign and managed its social media.

In memory of Désirée, Robert founded the IOU (I Owe U) Foundation in 2015. Its board included friends and business contacts who knew Robert and Désirée. Robert wanted to challenge the unacceptable reality that pancreatic cancer was still almost always a death sentence. Despite an initially positive outlook, Désirée died in December 2014 at the age of 56 — a devastating loss for Robert and their four children. Robert and Carien's friends soon came into contact and decided to work together. The foundation became Stichting Overleven met Alvleesklierkanker and incorporated the Support Casper website and campaign, creating a lasting basis for funding innovative pancreatic cancer research. The volunteer community continues to grow, organising fundraising activities across the Netherlands and helping Support Casper succeed. The foundation has ANBI status and is recognised by the CBF, the Dutch charity regulator.