Flora van Limbeek was 59
The 59-year-old mother of 22-year-old SuperBike rider Victor Steeman – who died following an accident at the Algarve International Autodrome last weekend – has herself died of a heart attack.
Flora van Limbeek collapsed at home in the Netherlands two days after her son’s death. “Despite rapid medical assistance, she could not be saved”, writes motorcyclesports.net.
The news, now circulating through the wider media, was broken by the sporting press in Holland, which has understandably dubbed it as “terrible” and “tragic”.
“How much grief can a person have”, questioned racesport.nl – adding that Flora van Limbeek was her son’s “biggest fan”.
The death of Steeman came three days after he was airlifted in a critical condition from the Portimão track to Faro Hospital following a multi-rider incident during a SuperSport300 race in the Superbike World Cup.
In a statement carried by the International Motorcycling Federation, Victor’s family wrote: “Something you have always been afraid of as a parent of a motorcycle racer has now happened. Our Victor could not win this last race. Despite the unbearable loss and grief, we are extremely proud to share with you that our hero, through his passing, was able to save 5 other people by donating his organs. We would like to thank everyone for the way you have lived with us over the past few days. We will miss our Victor enormously.”
The news about the organ donating came on Tuesday. It was not explained if the recipients were in Portugal, or in the Netherlands.
Understandably, Dutch media outlets have said the Steeman family has asked for respect “to get through their difficult mourning process in peace”.
