“It’s all in the head and you mustn’t let go”. These words are those ofEvelyne Leca, achievement of a cancer be you which quickly grew. Now in remission, she bears witness here to her fight against the sickness. A story that upsets as much as it alerts.
Cach year breast cancer affects women of all conditions, of all ages, without distinction. And fortunately, many of them manage to overcome the disease.
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But despite this, they remain marked in their flesh as well as in their spirit, and forever. Among these is Évelyne Leca, 34 years old. Small, slender, but of an unsuspected strength until then. It has been just over a year since she was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer.
Today in remission, the one who is nicknamed “the ray of sunshine” until the hospital center of Castelluccio in Ajaccio, feels more alive than ever and wishes to testify to her journey. “I want to carry a message of hope and above all, I want my story to be of some use”, she pleads. Here is his story:
“In February, it will be the anniversary of my ablation”begins the young woman ready to recount the trying year she has just gone through. “When I got sick, it turned everything upside down in my life. Personally already because I had just had a baby, but not only, professionally too, because I was preparing to become a nursing assistant »she asks straight away.
Not taken seriously
“My youngest was barely six months old, but I had symptoms as soon as I got back from bed, in fact, she analyzes with hindsight. I was exhausted and I felt that it was a tiredness that I did not know. But since I had had a difficult delivery, I was told that it was normal. Yet, deep down, I knew something was wrong. Then I realized something was seriously wrong one day while drying off after showering. I felt a lump in my breast. She wasn’t even visible, but I knew she was there. Again, I was told it was normal, it was due to childbirth and it was hormonal. That it was going to go away… But no, that’s not what happened. »
As she says this, Evelyne’s face darkens for a moment as she prepares to continue: “Soon after, still after the shower, I noticed that the lump had grown and that there was a flow at the level of the nipple, whereas I had done what was necessary to cut off the rises of milk. Either way, it was obvious it wasn’t milk…”
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Of course, immediately, the young mother will consult her gynecologist. “But again, I was not taken seriously, mainly because of my age”she gets annoyed. “He even refused to prescribe me a mammogram because, according to him, ”at 33, we don’t do mammography follow-up”, these are his words. »
A version that risks making people cringe, but to which it is important to give a voice. This, because she herself echoes those of many other women, still too numerous, who do not necessarily testify in the press, but for whom this type of speech could have disastrous consequences. Consequences of the kind that Evelyne narrowly avoided thanks to her stubbornness. ‘I insisted anyway and he finally prescribed me an ultrasound’first of all” he said, without seeming to fear even the thought of cancer. However, once there, I asked if they could still do a mammogram and I was told that the practitioner who was going to carry out the examination had the power to decide. »
A meeting that will change everything. “The latter received me with great kindness and told me that he would do according to what he was going to see on the ultrasound. This examination seemed endless to me and as he stared at the screen, his face showed no good. When he was done, he blurted out: ”This is not beautiful”. Subsequently, as he knew, but had no right to make a diagnosis, he guided me to the right specialists by making all the necessary appointments for me, urgently. This doctor then did his best to stay by my side until the end and interpreted all the results. I can’t thank him enough for all of this.”she softens at the memory.
A relentless fight
The rest, it was at the IPC* in Marseille that it happened and “Humanly, they were extraordinary”. However, it was not easy. “I was not spared. They don’t have time for that anyway and from the first interview I was told the color: “Two more months and we weren’t saving you.” Everything was said. From there, I did everything to keep smiling, even when I couldn’t take it anymore. Because that’s the hardest part: getting up every day with hope.”judge the one who has decided to fight with all her might “for my loved ones, but especially for my children”.
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A paid fight because now on the right slope, that of healing, here she is breathing again. “It is in these ordeals that we measure the love we have. The look of my companion, for example, who was wonderful, never changed, with or without hair… Even my brother, who had a lot of trouble accepting my illness, showed me his affection in his own way, sometimes clumsy, but touching, and when he saw me bare-headed, he told me ”You’re pretty”. Quite simply. It was the first time he said those words to me. she is moved to tears.
And this pace, typical of the treatment against cancer, she has completely assumed. “My relatives clubbed together to buy me a nice wig, but I never managed to wear it. I tried it on once, only to take it off in the middle of a coffee because I felt like I was wearing a disguise. I had even given a name, ”Pauline”, to this other woman I saw in the mirror when I had her on my head.”she jokes.
This wig, Évelyne finally gave it to the hairdresser who accompanied her when it was necessary to cut everything. So that it benefits another woman, like her, who would not have the means to afford it.
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Now in remission, the young woman is followed and will be for a long time. We tell her that we have to move, so she does Pilates twice a week. “It allowed me to reclaim my body”she appreciates.
She who, at the time of her chemotherapy sessions, sometimes had in mind the terrifying idea that the countdown of the days she had left to live had begun… here she is now appeased with the impression that the latter has been “reset”. And finally here is his dearest wish regarding his testimony: “If there is anything to take away from my experience, that it can be of use to others, it is that hope is part of what is around us. It’s all in the head and you can’t let go of anything at this level. But we must also understand that behind the disease, we still need to be accompanied because it is not over. Some think that as soon as we are declared in remission, the disease is behind us, but it does not work like that at all. »
*Institut Paoli-Calmettes – Center for the fight against cancer and oncology.