How do you create a memory with a sick child, knowing that your little one will not grow old?

How do parents create memories with a sick child, knowing they'll never get better? How do you stay optimistic when your young daughter itches 24/7 and is waiting for a liver transplant? And what if you flee Ukraine with your child, receive a warm welcome, and then your daughter is diagnosed with cancer?

That's the topic of the six-part series "Niet Klein Te Krijgen" (Not Getting Small) from BNNVARA and TV producer Jurre Geluk. Metro watched the first episode, which you can watch tonight, for the television program " Blik op de Buis" (Looking at the Tube ). We're talking about the second season of " Niet Klein Te Krijgen ." It's not Metro 's custom to discuss it in this section. But with such a topic, we're happy to overlook it. A seriously ill child deserves our full attention, and in this series, Jurre Geluk follows five of them.

Moreover, Dutch television viewers are watching these kinds of stories en masse. Just last week, "Beste Zangers" (Best Singers) for Kika, about children with cancer, scored well over a million viewers. Metro articles on similar topics are also widely read. This was recently the case for a story about the euthanasia of Milou , a 17-year-old girl.

Of course , "Niet Klein Te Krijgen" (Not Small to Get) is a series that closely resembles Tim Hofman's "Over My Dead Body ." However, a sick child (and their parent or parents) always plays a central role, not "a young person," who, in Hofman's view, could also be in their thirties. Jurre Geluk followed each sick child for a year, spanning 2024 and 2025. The 33-year-old Veenendaal native, as we saw on Saturday, couldn't believe his luck to participate in the anniversary season of "Wie Is De Mol?" (Who Is The Mole?) .

"Niet Klein Te Krijgen" (Not Small to Get) is anything but joyful. However, Jurre Geluk's interaction with each sick child in this program is relaxed, interested, lighthearted, and funny when possible. In Tim Hofman, he certainly had a good mentor, though Geluk seems to have that attitude himself. This makes it easier for the viewer to appreciate such a deeply charged topic.

not getting small francesca and jurre happiness — Francesca and Jurre Geluk. Photo: Annemieke van der Togt

We'd like to introduce the five heroes—because that's what they are when you're such a sick child at such a young age—of Niet Klein Te Krijgen (Don't Get Small) . Francesca is 11 and pretty tough, you can see her in the photo above. In 2018, she was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer. Despite everything, Francesca continues to draw, paint, and train jiu-jitsu when she can. Recently, the cancer returned for the fifth time, in her brain. With Jurre Geluk, she's going to a hospital in Düsseldorf for one of twelve chemotherapy sessions in her head. This brave girl shares her story without hesitation. We're also allowed to watch as a hood is placed over her head and screwed to a table. Seriously scary!

We haven't seen Logan (8) in the first episode of "Niet Klein Te Krijgen" (Not Small to Get) . This busy jokester has the metabolic disease MLD. Logan will not recover, but will die from a complication that will arise from his illness. His family will ultimately have to decide whether or not to treat this complication.

Mila (10) came to the Netherlands from Ukraine with her parents. Life finally seemed good again, but then two tragedies followed. Her parents' divorce was difficult, but then non-Hodgkin lymphoma came on top of that. Mila is being treated at the Princess Máxima Center in Utrecht and makes videos whenever possible. She wants to become famous with them. The hospital staff is particularly enthusiastic about her efforts. But oh, oh, how often the girl is terminally ill.

not getting small-mila and jurre sick child — Jurre with Mila. Photo: Annemieke van der Togt

Then we have this tough guy who's also a sick kid, or rather, a sick teenager. Luca (13) had aggressive bone cancer in his knee. Because Luca so desperately wants to race autocross again in the future (he was already a youth champion), he chose to have more than half of his leg amputated. Could you have made that decision at 13? Luca could. He now has a knee replacement, and if the cancer doesn't return, he'll soon be able to race again. It's wonderful to see his best friend, like the sick boy, going bald as a sign of support and friendship.

We conclude with 12-year-old Rosan. Rosan has a serious liver condition (PFIC2); the bile in her liver "can't flow." It's so severe that only a liver transplant can save her life (for now). Day and night, her mother now has her work phone on, the number a hospital in Groningen calls when a liver becomes available. A packed suitcase is always ready to drive away immediately.

not to get small rosan and jurre — Rosan and Jurre. Photo: Annemieke van der Togt

The special thing about Rosan: because of her illness, she itches 24/7, and it's incredibly bad. No matter which sick child we see in the first episode of "Niet Klein Te Krijgen ," that story about constantly having severe itching sticks with us. That's partly because, if you don't have cancer or are waiting for a liver, you find it all awful, but imagining it is much harder. Itching, we can all relate to that. It's a relief to see Jurre Geluk take Rosan on a trampoline. For a moment, she forgets about that itch.