He became a streamer. He played video games, made music as a DJ, and talked about his day-to-day life in front of a camera. He gained more than 90,000 followers across Instagram, YouTube, and Twitch—people who came to watch him play and stayed for him.

He won a Jamie Award for his gaming content. He was nominated for a Kastaar, one of the most important awards in Flemish television.

He had a younger sister, Amber, 20, who was also born with progeria. Together, they starred in a documentary this year, “”How To Be Alive: Amber and Michiel,”” in which they showed, without filters, what it means to inhabit a body racing against time.

He was a KRC Genk supporter. The club paid him a public tribute upon learning the news.

Doctors gave him 12 years. He used the extra 16 to tell his story, win awards, make thousands of strangers laugh, and leave behind a book with his name on the cover.

Diepenbeek opened a book of condolences. Somewhere in the lines of that book, someone will write that Michiel never lived in fear of the clock: he lived despite it.