Condemned by leukemia which leaves her only a few months to live “barring a miracle”, a woman from Quebec has decided to bite into life to the full and realize her dreams before her last trip.
“To be confined in a kind of glass bubble to survive, or to live my life fully for the time I have left, the choice is easy for me. There is no adventure without risk!” says France Girard laughing, despite the fatality that awaits her.
In 2019, the now 42-year-old was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia – combined with two mutations – while giving Pilates lessons at a retreat on the Côte d’Ivoire. Azure.
Courtesy picture
France Girard, some time after her first diagnosis of leukemia
This type of cancer attacks blood stem cells, creating an overproduction of immature (blastic) blood cells that end up taking the place of others, preventing them from fulfilling their role.
Luckily, six months later, thanks to a stranger living in Norway, she was able to receive a stem cell transplant to which she responded well.
A slap in the face
But now, after more than two years of battling the disease, coupled with an uphill battle to preserve her yoga business during the pandemic, she is dealing with the comeback of leukemia as she prepares to leave. for a six-month road trip.
“It was a real slap in the face. I felt like I was experiencing an impossible injustice. I thought that by always doing good around me, it would come back to me one day, sighs Mme Girard.
Due to complications from the two mutations she has, she had no choice but to try a new drug called Xospata, approved in 2020 by Health Canada.
The median survival of patients who receive this treatment is 9.3 months, while it is 5.6 months with chemotherapy.
Dreams to realize
If France Girard admits to hoping that this drug prolongs her life long enough to find a solution to her illness, she prefers to concentrate on the good sides of life for the time she has left.
Courtesy picture
She realized her dream of skydiving with her whole family last week.
Getting married on the sand, driving a Lamborghini, doing a powa – a group class combining yoga, the Pilates method and music – with a symphony orchestra, travelling, creating a podcast… These are all “not too reasonable” dreams that she intends to tick off her bucket list (list of dreams to achieve during her life) within the next few months and that she has already started to achieve.
Courtesy picture
Owner of Studio Rebel, she would like to organize before dying a “Powa”, as was the case during the NORR festival last September, with a symphony orchestra.
“I went skydiving with my whole family, it was amazing! I lived the moment of my life and I intend to live others!” she says.
“And if ever a miracle happens, I can only be happy to have enjoyed life as ever!” she concludes.