After her second pregnancy, Mélanie Courtier feels a hard lump in one of her breasts and the nipple that retracts while she is breastfeeding her baby. Caregivers question breastfeeding or the infant’s position. By dint of insisting for several months, she ends up “obtaining an ultrasound” which reveals cancer of the left breast and realizes that she has had this feeling of size since the age of 27. She was then 30. During her third chemotherapy, she asked if there weren’t other women her age and met Christelle Rakotoarimanana, 32, mother of two young children.
“Beautiful and strong”
“I was faced with an abyss of questions, book Mélanie. Should I show my skull to my 6 month and 2 year olds? How to explain the disease to them? etc Sandra has become my cancer godmother in a way. We say things to ourselves that we don’t tell our loved ones because we protect them. She showed me her scar following her mastectomy. I saw a beautiful, strong woman, not an injury. As a result, when I myself had the operation, I felt less worried regarding my identity. »
Their personal experience shows two things. One: there is less support for young patients, two: a lack of information can lead to a delay in diagnosis. They then founded Jeune et rose, in Saint-André-de-Cubzac. After five years of existence, the association is deployed throughout France thanks to the ambassadors and some are creating branches. Supported by the Regional Health Agency (ARS), the New Aquitaine Region and the Bergonié Foundation, Jeune et rose works along three lines: supporting young women with cancer, raising awareness among professionals and communicating with the general public.
Feeling saves lives
Better placed than anyone to talk regarding it, the “pink power” girls produced a film “Pink Alert” where patients and caregivers explain and testify for professionals. It is distributed in particular to the University Hospital Center (CHU) of Bordeaux with which the association has established a partnership, in the schools of midwives, nurses or the Medical Universities of Bordeaux, Lyon and Lille.
They set up the Tétonnantes, a network of young women affected by cancer to share experiences and provide answers. Speakers: socio-aestheticians, dieticians, people capable of providing solutions for everyday life because these women are often young mothers. The “pinkettes”, as they call themselves, also organize a Télététon, a course including several activities to understand breast cancer. The pouet-pouet workshop is their main tool. It helps to understand how essential breast palpation is in the fight once morest breast cancer. We touch silicone busts with eight abnormalities signs of cancer. Even if our reason knows that we ourselves can be touched, this tactile sensation anchors the evocation of risk in the body and inevitably generates special attention to our own chest following this experience. “Men are also invited to participate because they can thus save lives”, slips Mélanie.
This workshop is intended for both high schools and companies. It costs 2,500 euros. Jeune et rose is not once morest a few sponsors!
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