She is a beautiful woman, sporty, smiling, one of those who see in you. direct. A woman is finally healed, and who dares to claim it. Because she had been through fire for twenty years: bad cancer, harsh treatment, black days locked in an airlock, fear in her stomach, hope, anger, despair. “Healing is a battle you can never win alone,” she says. 200% confidence in my doctors, science and strong support from my team on a daily basis. My husband, my children, my loved ones who believed in me, with me, never gave up. »
Never in his story, his…
She is a beautiful woman, sporty, smiling, one of those who see in you. direct. A woman is finally healed, and who dares to claim it. Because she had been through fire for twenty years: bad cancer, harsh treatment, black days locked in an airlock, fear in her stomach, hope, anger, despair. “Healing is a battle you can never win alone,” she says. 200% confidence in my doctors, science and strong support from my team on a daily basis. My husband, my children, my loved ones who believed for me, with me, never gave up. »
Her voice never wavers in her story, therapy is a real full-time job. “Food, sports and the joy of living were also necessary…”
So, Valerie is a nurse, it’s 2001, she’s 36 years old, two kids, a great life. That day, she was walking around Bordeaux with a bunch of kids…
Valerie, a cancer patient, next to Professor François-Xavier Mahon, hematologist researcher and director general of the Bourgognei Institute in Bordeaux.
Thierry David/ “SO”
“I felt a pain in my chest, something violent like a heart attack and I passed out,” she recalls. Firefighters intervened, but I was able to return home. My doctor, at this point, thinks I’m stressed, a bit hysterical, basically ‘psychotic’. But it does not reassure me, I feel a weight on my left side, and this fatigue that I have been carrying for a long time. I consult another doctor who examines me and observes that my spleen is enlarged. Only an ultrasound and a blood test were needed to make the diagnosis. September 11, 2001, the day the Twin Towers collapsed in the United States: chronic myelogenous leukemia. My children are very young, 5 and 7 years old. A hammer blow. »
Valerie will immediately receive medical care, interferon-based treatment, and very quickly, her oncologist offers her the possibility of an autograft. “The protocol seemed overwhelming to me, I had to live in a sterile room, the children were so young, I was not ready. But interferon causes side effects, including depression. I was immediately supported by a psychologist, but I was in a state of surprise. Fortunately, it didn’t last, I returned to real life and put myself in combat mode. I tried targeted therapy, which didn’t work for me, and in 2004 I accepted an autograph. »
Nothing goes according to plan, Valerie is thin and physically weak. Infection and septicemia follow one another, threatening his life in the short term. “I almost died, many times. two fingers. But I still did not give up, I had to switch to the transplant option, I remained on the list of applicants for a long time, without ever finding a suitable donor. So, I tested another targeted therapy, a new drug. It was 2006.”
Bingo. After several months on this therapeutic diet, Valerie feels she is getting back on her feet. A blood test will confirm this feeling very quickly: the results show an amazing improvement in the indicators. The disease is returning. Valery continues, “We didn’t jump on the roof right away, we had to wait for one confirmation, then two, then three. » In short, years, during which she realizes that she can return to work, normal life, her sports, her holidays, projects. If it weren’t for this stubborn sword of Damocles.
Professor Francois-Xavier Mahon, hematologist, researcher, however director general of the Bourgogne Institute in Bordeaux, is taking care of Valerie’s case. “Sometimes, after years of successful treatment, our role as physicians is to help the patient get off their medication. Because even if it proves lifesaving, it remains a drug, with its side effects, especially on the heart. This unhooking job is too long. I had to follow the patient’s footsteps, understand his reluctance and wait for the right moment. We waited together for two years. I explained to him that it was time for him to learn to ride a bike without small wheels. »
Valerie admits with a smile that quitting medication was a new ordeal for her. “I knew there was about a 40% risk that the disease would return, but, in that case, I would be treated. I had to be convinced to agree to be closely monitored in the first week after definitively stopping my treatment. On my birthday, I dove into the unknown. An exemption. I was treated by Professors Gérald Merritt and François-Xavier Mahon, the first in Haute-Leveque (Bordeaux University Hospital) and the second in Burgony. These two are part of my life now. »
François-Xavier Mahon likes to say that the etymology of the word “healing” comes from “protection”: “It is almost a combative word. »
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