Former teacher and Paralympic medallist Chantal Boonacker passes away aged 43

Chantal Boonacker resigned as lecturer of the online master's in Epidemiology around a year and a half ago. "The battery ran out", she said in an interview with DUB.

She suffered from a serious muscle disease since the age of ten. She was declared completely unfit for work at age eighteen. But that didn't stop her from studying Biomedical Sciences in Nijmegen and obtaining her PhD in Utrecht, at the Julius Centre for Health Sciences, where she later became a lecturer.

To express her appreciation for her employer, she nominated the UMC Utrecht to the Business Walk of Fame, run by the Lucille Werner Foundation. Since 2014, the hospital has a tile with a star on the Business Walk of Fame on Amsterdam's Zuidas. These stars are given to companies working towards an accessible labour market.

During her studies and PhD, Boonacker was among the world’s best paralympic swimmers. She trained in Nieuwegein and participated in the Paralympic Games three times. In 2004 (Athens) and 2008 (Beijing), she won a bronze medal in her division, after previously finishing fourth in 2000 (Sydney).

In her interview with DUB, Boonacker lamented having to stop teaching because of her illness. "On the other hand, if I had listened to the school's remedial educationalist in my fifth year of secondary school, I would have never been able to do anything at all. So, yes, maybe I am proud after all."

In an in memoriam post on UMC Utrecht's intranet, her former colleagues write: "we remember Chantal as a committed and passionate teacher, but above all a huge fighter and sweet person."