2023-10-15 18:00:00
Laure has been ill, hospitalized at the Bergonié Regional Cancer Center in Bordeaux for two months. The day the doctor told her some very bad news, she took the blow. Then got up from her bed, turned on the CD player, Cuban music loud, “and I danced salsa.” Warding off the spell, there, in her room, in front of her collapsed husband. Because Laure is not only sick, she has a rich imagination, a life of frolicking around the globe, of friendships, of associative commitments, of generosity. So, when Sylvie Thabaraud and Anne Prost, nurses and now hospital biographers, came knocking on her door, offering to collect her story, Laure did not hesitate. “I was immediately excited by the idea of transmitting to say who I am, of leaving a trace… Yes. I don’t have any children, but I have two nephews who I love dearly. Tell me, what an adventure. »
Last Monday, Valéria Milewski, founder of the “Passeur de mots” association, the Director of Unicancer Sophie Beaupère and the General Management of Bergonié, Nicolas Portolan, deputy director, signed the agreement.
Bergonié Hospital
And then, Laure gets bored. Some days, when the nurses, doctors, radiologists leave her alone, can be long, as she always has ants in her legs. “I was an optician, a riding instructor, a salsa teacher, but above all I traveled six months a year, I crossed the Algerian Sahara desert, so many things that are impossible today. My life journey is unusual. Who knows ? »
Bergonié has just signed a partnership agreement with Unicancer and the “Passeur de mots et d’histoires” association. A first experiment recognized in France. “It’s a bet,” notes Sylvie Thabaraud. By becoming a pilot establishment, Bergonié can make hospital biography a real supportive care in its own right. This is what we want, to integrate the care teams, and identify, with them, the patients who would be sensitive to this form of support. »
It’s a meeting
The profession of hospital biographer was initiated fifteen years ago by Valéria Milewski, who founded the association Passengers of words and stories. It involves asking a person affected by a serious illness to recount episodes of their personal history, their memories, their thoughts. A story of which the patient remains the author. “The biographer that I am,” continues Anne Prost, strives not to interpret, to stick to the story, to the way of speaking, to the vocabulary of the narrator, the idea being to stick to the melody of the other. This work of narration allows the sick person to recreate a connection, to find a place, a density of existence…”
Laure nods at this description. ” That’s quite right. We started and I went back to early childhood memories, it took me back to places, even smells that I thought I had forgotten. And then, it gets me out of here, out of confinement. Even when they closed the door, I still think regarding it. Those around me are also very excited that I am leading this project. The first transcription that Anne made me read is completely faithful. »
The two biographers, in fact, add nothing, take nothing away from the story. No filter, or as little as possible. “We are satisfied when those close to the narrator tell us “we find him completely” or “it’s really him there,” assures Sylvie. All stories interest us, and sometimes they have nothing to do with the person’s story. It is not a biography, but moments of life, cooking recipes, hidden talents. Some read us secretly written song lyrics that they had kept in a drawer. »
A break from illness
Laure will soon be released from the hospital and will return home with medical support at home. She can’t wait. Not just for salsa, but to regain some of your autonomy. She assures that she wants to continue the biography project with Anne and Sylvie, it will be by video. “I started, there’s no question of stopping. For two months, my mind has been totally absorbed by my illness, my care, but when the biographer is here, I shift to life, mine, and that makes me feel good. »
The two biographers speak of a parenthesis, “a bubble, a window opened in the space of time compressed by the various therapies”. They are the first hospital biographers approved in a cancer center in France and open a path towards a form of narrative therapy.
For a year, to begin with, they will knock on the doors of patients at the Bergonié Institute, financed by the Royan Lion’s Club. The charity will also pay for Laure’s book, which will be published in a single copy by an artisan art bookbinder. A pure object of transmission.
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