The candidate of Love is in the meadow 2020 (M6) lives with a Damocles sword above his head. Matthew is a carrier of Cadasil disease, a “rare and incurable generic disease” as he recalled during his interview for the magazine Closer (edition of July 8, 2022). Despite this, he made the choice to live life to the fullest with his husband Alexandre, with whom he has plenty of great projects.
In the end, it is no longer in Ukraine, because of the war raging there, but in Colombia that Mathieu will be packing his bags this summer, as part of a surrogacy. “I’m going to Colombia on August 31 to start a surrogacy procedure. I am a carrier of Cadasil disease, which is a rare and incurable genetic disease. The clinic that follows us detects 307 genetic diseases. Thanks to me, they added Cadasil to their screening protocol. I will thus be able to avoid transmitting the disease to my child, who will be born with the help of a surrogate mother after in vitro fertilization“, confided the husband of Alexandre. A long journey which can be marked by failure. But the breeder of bulls is confident.
Without Cadasil, I would never have dared to live so fully
Love is the engine of his life, so he intends to give even more with the arrival of a baby. But Mathieu knows it, time is running out. “I am almost 47 years old and, in theory, the life expectancy of Cadasil patients is 62 years“, he said. This evil with which he has to live affects the small blood vessels in the brain, which leads to poor irrigation of certain areas. This can cause migraines, mental disorders and strokes. “I suffer from bipolarity. I have a one in three risk of having a stroke from the age of 45 and a one in six chance of it happening at night“, he clarified.
It was only at the age of 43 that Mathieu discovered his illness. His late dad also had it, but to protect his two children, he waited until 2018 to tell them about it. The farmer and his sister (who is not a carrier) therefore carried out genetic tests. The results came in three months later. “It’s like waiting on death row“, said the charming brunette. But this expectation, he wants it to be as beautiful as possible. Recently, he has donatedc somewhat put his professional activity aside for “realize his dreams” and “to feed [sa] head of happiness“. With Alexandre, he is particularly involved in several associations, including Le Refuge, which accommodates young LGBT + people driven from their homes. “We are working on a docu-reality to deconstruct homophobia. I’m teeming with projects. I have never felt so good. Without Cadasil, I would never have dared to live so fully. Paradoxically, my illness is the source of the greatest happiness of my life.“, he concluded.