If you look from afar, life seems to be smiling at Michelle Mulder. He’s making waves as a DJ on a TV show and will be on the ice as a coach at the World Cup in Salt Lake City this weekend.

But if you ask him how he’s really doing, you’ll hear a different story. Last summer, Mulder was told he had a benign tumor right behind his ear, a pontine angle tumor to be exact. “It was a huge shock. Fortunately, it’s benign, but it’s in a very unpleasant place and it’s not easy to treat.”

Mulder figured something was wrong as he heard less and less in his right ear. “In noisy places, I increasingly couldn’t hear people. I had to turn my head for them to talk in my left ear.”

For a moment he thought he had found an innocent cause for his hearing loss. “So that I could hear myself well while singing, I was fitted with special earplugs made of silicone. While giving the impression, I noticed a plug in my right ear. It felt great.”

Mulder hoped that if the plug was removed, his hearing would return. “The doctor simply removed it, but my hearing did not improve at all.”

Further investigations did not fully clarify the source of the complaints and Mulder ended up moving deeper into the medical plant. An MRI scan was performed in August 2023, which was supposed to put an end to the search.

“When the doctor told me that my head would be scanned, he told me not to search the Internet to see what I could find.” Of course the former number one runner did. “Then you read things you wouldn’t really rather read.”

The examination revealed a growth about three centimeters in size that was pressing on the auditory nerve. This ensures that Mulder hears about thirty percent less on the right. “After the first tests, I was afraid to use a hearing aid, but now it has become more dangerous.”

For a long time he planned to share his story only during his participation in the RTL program Stars on stage He came out anyway. “I sing there is a song that affected me because of this situation. There will definitely be questions about it, so I want to tell my story once and then it will be done for me.”

Because Mulder realizes that even though it affects him personally and “however uncertain it may be, it is a benign tumor. Unfortunately, a lot of people are getting a different message.”

“Because it’s benign, I can grow old with it. Although there will be long-term consequences.” The tumor grows about one millimeter per year and will eventually need to be surgically removed. The operation would irreparably damage Mulder’s right auditory nerve, leaving him deaf in that ear.

“If the tumor is removed and my hearing is gone, it will take some getting used to, but I think I can still sing then.”

However, there is still a risk to the operation. The tumor is also located near the facial nerve. There is a possibility of getting hit and it can cause partial facial paralysis. “Then singing becomes very difficult.”

Also because of this risk, he has now chosen not to undergo surgery. “After the first scan in August, I had a second scan last November. There was little to no growth. Now at least I can still hear in that ear, so I’ll leave it as is,” Mulder explains. He now talks about the topic fairly easily, because he often talks about it with family and friends.

The vestibular nerve is located directly next to the auditory nerve and has lost its function due to the tumor. “Tests have already shown that the left side actually takes control of everything.”

The skater cannot do without balance. Because of the minimal growth, it is almost certain that Mulder actually developed the tumor during his active career. “He made me an Olympic champion.”

The fact that he reacts so lightly shows that Mulder, who won gold in Sochi in 2014 by beating Jan Smeekins by twelve thousandths of a second, has now found his way again. Although it took time.

Andere Tijden Sport made this episode two years ago about Mulder’s Olympic title – and Smekins’ Olympic defeat:

“Mentally, shortly after the news broke, it was a bit difficult to exercise, for example. I no longer had the energy to do it. But now I enjoy doing it again and I’m actually more aware that I have to do something.” . “I really like.”

“It’s annoying that you have to get this news for that.”