In Castres, sports activities to help people with cancer

Accustomed to long-distance races, Castres Luc Atgé had to put his exploits on hold because of cancer. However, he did not completely stop and even decided to organize a weekly sports meeting for sick people. “It’s like in a race, when you’re about to give up, you can’t take it anymore and then all of a sudden you pull yourself together, you say to yourself ‘no, I trained and prepared, I want to get to at the end’“, says the founder of Team du Crab.

Since the beginning of September, a solidarity team has been meeting twice a week on the trails of the Tarn. These appointments are an opportunity for sick people to take up or resume the habit of a sporting activity, but also to support themselves in the face of illness.

These collective sports activities are as good for the body as for the morale. For some, being together against the disease keeps hope alive. Patrick Alves had his spinal cord paralyzed by lymphoma a few months ago. Recently, he has returned to sport with the Team du Crabe: “I find myself on my two legs, which was not won at the start, I try to regain a little taste for life“.

Playing sports together, having a good time, is also a way to motivate yourself. “In a group, we risk doing more than alone. Alone, it’s difficult to get up and motivate yourself while in a group it’s different“, believes Jean-Paul Calvet, suffering from prostate cancer.