The Den Bosch women will have to do without Dutch national team players Frédérique Matla, Joosje Burg, Rosa Fernig and Pien Sanders in the cup final against Tilburg on Thursday night (6:30 p.m., live on field hockey.nl). But there is also good news: quiet force Imme van der Hoek is back in the team as of two weeks ago. The 27-year-old midfielder is recovering from a rare optic nerve infection that left her temporarily nearly blind in her right eye.
Van der Hoek has been a familiar face on Den Bosch’s main squad for years and rarely missed a game since her debut in 2016. This season, however, she was missing week after week on the match sheet. Not a typical sports injury, but an invisible enemy kept her sidelined: her own immune system turned against the nervous system and affected the optic nerve, with drastic consequences. What began as a spot in her right eye turned into a veil that blurred her world.
‘At one point I could only see one percent with my right eye,’ says Van der Hoek, who has recently gone through a medical roller coaster. ‘By now my vision is ninety percent again, but fatigue can affect it immediately.’
Imme van der Hoek is heavily beleaguered in last Sunday’s home game with SCHC. Photo: Bart Scheulderman
Creeping nightmare
It all started in August 2024, at a place where sports dreams come true: the Paris Olympics. Van der Hoek was sitting with friends in the stands at the semifinal between the Orange women and Argentina. While cheering on her Bossche teammates, she noticed that her vision became blurry, as if there was a speck of dirt in her eye.
‘I googled for a while and called my family doctor, who advised me to go to an eye clinic for a checkup,’ Van der Hoek recounted. ‘But yes … By now it was the day of the Olympic final between the Netherlands and China. I thought: one day of waiting probably won’t hurt.’
During the final, the haze only got worse. And Van der Hoek’s worries increased. Via via she asked Carlijn Tukkers’ mother for a quick check. She is an ophthalmologist and advised her to lie flat as much as possible, as a precaution. But Van der Hoek did not immediately comply. ‘The Orange girls had become Olympic champions and a party had been arranged … I didn’t want to miss that.’
Imme van der Hoek (center) with Danique van der Veerdonk to her left and Orange internationals Rosa Fernig and Pien Sanders. Photo: Instagram Imme van der Hoek
Failing immune system
Once home, stripped of the Olympic intoxication, the seriousness of the situation only really became clear. After a series of medical examinations in Tilburg , led by mother Tukkers, the diagnosis followed: an optic nerve inflammation caused by a failing immune system. A disease that without prompt treatment could lead to blindness or even paralysis of limbs. Van der Hoek immediately underwent plasma treatment, which removed pathogenic substances.
‘I’m not someone who immediately runs to the doctor for a little discomfort,’ says Van der Hoek. ‘But if I had waited longer, I would have been at much greater risk of permanent injury. I’m lucky I didn’t have more serious symptoms.’
Although Van der Hoek now has most of her sight back, the medications that keep her immune system in check are a new challenge. Prednisone, the powerful anti-inflammatory drug she must take for another two months, disrupts her top sports regime.
Van der Hoek: “One of the side effects of prednisone is an increased heart rate. Already during running training this winter I had to have my heart rate measured continuously. Sometimes, without feeling it, I was already at two hundred beats per minute. Then you have to stop, even though you feel fine. That’s frustrating. In the beginning I noticed that my heart rate flew up even when putting down some pylons for an exercise. It makes you wonder whether your body can still handle top sport.’
Imme van der Hoek shares in the joy during last season’s semi-final of the playoffs against Kampong (7-0). Photo: Willem Vernes
Test
The past few months without field hockey and her work as a physical therapist have been an ordeal for Van der Hoek, who only made her first minutes of the season on March 20 in the Gold Cup semifinal against Amsterdam. ‘You never think about how natural a healthy body feels until suddenly it doesn’t,’ she said. ‘Suddenly I couldn’t drive, work or play sports. I had to get help, something I wasn’t used to. It’s the little things you miss, like the routine of a workout or chatting with teammates about nothing special.’
Fortunately, the team stood around her like a house. ‘My teammates have become friends over the past nine years; I see them more often than my family. They came over regularly, brought a clay pack to make something together. That kept me involved and made me feel like I still belonged to the team. I also had a lot of support from my colleagues at Backelandt Physical Therapy: they helped me tremendously in my return to the field and to work.’
Her recovery process has changed her outlook on life. ‘Normally you recover from a muscle injury with a clear schedule. This was different. There was more uncertainty. Now every minute on the field feels like a gift.
For the approach of ophthalmologist Floor Tukkers, she harbors deep gratitude. ‘She persevered and made sure I was treated on time. Had I waited longer, I might not have been able to play anymore. I realize that all too well.’
An eye for her own health
Still, her sporting future remains uncertain. An autoimmune disease does not disappear, and drug treatments remain necessary to suppress inflammation. Although Van der Hoek will be phasing out her medication use in the near future, she will have to continue receiving IV treatment twice a year. Whether this can all be combined with playing top sports without any problems remains a question mark. That, too, is a reality she must learn to live with.
‘I enjoy field hockey even more now and realize how special it is to be part of this team. I really missed that in the first half of the league. The team has always been the most important thing for me. It still is, but now with a little more focus on my own health.’
Van der Hoek can now see ninety percent again with her right eye. Photo: Bart Scheulderman
by Hockey.nl
