A Historical Vignette (17) “Be proud of yourself: you have a History!” The illness of soldier Rik Wouters

The illness of soldier Rik Wouters. The Flemish painter and sculptor Rik Wouters was born in Mechelen. He died from a fibrosarcoma of the right maxillary sinus at the age of 33. At the time, he was a soldier with the 9th Regiment of the Line of the Belgian Army during the Great War and he was imprisoned in Holland. His symptoms are reviewed; some comments are made relating to the errors in diagnosis, the quality of the treatment, its poor results, the optimism of the patient and his lucidity, and finally the moving confidence demonstrated by him in his successive physicians (Figures 1-4).