Shortly after the birth of her daughter Yildau, Sylvia starts drinking. Nearly twenty years later, her addiction still rules the lives of her children. She is no longer together with the father of her children, Cerry. Jildou has Lucien’s muscle disease, which is rare for girls. “The structure that Yildau needs is sometimes quite difficult for Sylvia,” said Tanja, an ex-sister-in-law.
Son Ype remembers his mother as a caring and sweet woman. “She liked to do fun things with me and my sister.” Even then, Sylvia was already drinking a lot. “She started drinking on the couch where we were sitting. She fell asleep on the couch,” said her son. Cerry thinks Sylvia wanted to get out of the marriage and that’s why she started drinking.
In 2010, the family experiences a horrific Christmas Eve as they… All You Need Is Love look. “She gets up and she says, I’m leaving. On Christmas Eve, she went out and left me and the kids. And she was gone.” Son Ype felt betrayed by his own mother. It soon becomes apparent that Sylvia had another relationship. If that relationship ends, she comes back with drooping legs. Drinking eventually gets out of hand. And that’s why her children are now crying out for help.
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When Sylvia’s intervention begins, she doesn’t know what hit her. Daughter Yildau is also upset. In tears, she nods that her mother does indeed need help. However, Sylvia herself does not think she has a drinking problem. “It’s not like I reach for the bottle every night. It’s only three glasses.”
Then Ype pours out his heart towards his mother. “I suffer from your addiction because I always worry about you,” he says in tears. “You’re turning into a mother I don’t know.” Daughter Yildau also indicates that she is sometimes ashamed of her mother. All in all, Sylvia decides to go to therapy, much to the relief of her children.
Although things seem to be going well in therapy, Sylvia relapses two weeks after returning home and has been drinking. Ype tells Ewout that. “We saw empty and half-full bottles. In the end we caught her in the act.” This means that Yildau can only continue to live with her father. When Ype confronts his mother with the fact that Yildau is afraid of her, it makes her sad. As well as that her son is disappointed in her.
–
Two months after the relapse there is the well-known test, to see if Sylvia really hasn’t been drinking. The result of the test turns out to be negative. Son Ype immediately shoots full. “I think it’s quite a relief for him too,” says Sylvia. “That he doesn’t have to worry anymore.”
Three months after the test moment, Sylvia is still doing well. “I am fully back to work and the bond with my children is stronger again.”
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