Nienke Leone gives PLN a voice: “I hope this song brings more attention to the disease”

For years she wrote for other artists, but recently made her debut as an artist. And how! The song “Crying in the Cinema” was written especially for Nienke’s childhood friend who lost her father to PLN. That’s how she became involved in the foundation.

“I hope this issue will bring more attention to the disease,” Nienke explains. PLN is a virtually unknown life-threatening disease that is hereditarily transmissible. Nienke’s friend is also a carrier of the PLN mutation. Right now, she is not suffering from it. “Hopefully a treatment will be found before she suffers from it.”

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A great drive to put PLN on the map through all sorts of ways, in Nienke’s case this is to create your own song about the disease. “Together with MuViPro, I created a video that depicts the disease and its progression.” That way, Nienke hopes more people will get involved with the foundation and learn about PLN.

“The song I wrote right after the death. I went to the cinema with my friend. By chance, the main character’s father died. That became the inspiration for the title.” The song Nienke wrote is about powerlessness. “Someone close to you experiences a great loss. You watch it but can’t intervene.”

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Nienke is a 25-year-old songwriter and singer from Rotterdam. She has previously written for artists such as Miss Montreal and Zoë Livay. With a duet with Xerxes, she made her debut as an artist. Meanwhile, her songs are regularly played on the radio. In 2024, she was selected for the Grote Prijs van Nederland, a music prize from Mentos.

Meanwhile, Nienke’s action raised more than 2,000 euros for the foundation. This allows the foundation to continue to stimulate scientific research, because nothing sticks to the bow. Nienke is also donating royalties from her song to the foundation. In this way, affordable treatment is getting closer and closer.

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