Ruben Lenten has revealed he is suffering from cancer.
The Dutch kiteboarder explained that he wasn't feeling well lately. Lenten wrote that he had "a really strange pain in the chest and in my throat," so he decided to see a doctor.
The specialist checked his heart, lungs and blood pressure and everything seemed to be okay. So, Lenten and his girlfriend Nikki traveled to California to visit friends and embark on new adventures.
"Unfortunately, the pain in my chest and throat increased, and I knew something wasn't right. So I went to the St Louise Hospital in Gilroy to get things checked out," unveiled Ruben Lenten.
"After doing an X-ray they saw an inflammation in my chest and wanted to follow up with a CT scan. Twenty minutes later our world got turned upside down: 'Sir, we've got some bad news. You've got a mass of about 9x9 centimeters by the heart. You need to see an oncologist as soon as possible since it's in a very sensitive area'"
At Stanford Hospital, doctors told Ruben Lenten that he had a type of lymphoma that can be treated and that the problem hadn't spread anywhere else in his body.
"I really want to focus on my treatment and recovery, and I am very curious to find out what type it is and how aggressive. I'll take it as a gift with a difficult task at hand but with a wonderful outcome if we do this right," added Lenten.
The kiteboarder believes his insurance will hopefully cover the treatment, but the MaiTai community has also kicked off a fundraiser to help him pay the battle against cancer.
Ruben Lenten was born in Noordwijk, Netherlands, in 1988. He started kiteboarding at the age of 12 and rapidly stood out in professional competitions. Lately, he shifted his focus to extreme riding and nearly impossible kite acrobatics. "Len10" is the founder of the Red Bull Megaloop Challenge.