Jacques-Louis Potgieter testifies and tells his story from start to finish, with ups and downs, fears and hopes, “the dark times“, as he says, but also “the good times“. This terrible story began abruptly in November 2017. Following a knockout in the field, the doctors noticed that his recovery was not going normally. It was during an additional examination that the sentence fell and the he South African opener learns that he has a brain tumour: a blow to him and to an entire club.
Start then a long fight which gradually turns into a human adventure, kept discreet or even secret in the life of the Usapist group. This lesson in life makes manager Patrick Arlettaz, who is also omnipresent alongside JLP, say today: ‘There are great stories on the pitch but there are also stories in the locker room. Jacques-Louis on arrival is a great story.“
The day when Jacques-Louis Potgieter publicly revealed his illness, without specifying at the time that it was a brain tumourhe had already surprisingly announced: “I’m ready to stay to clean the locker room, I want to stay with this group, my family here is USAP“.
He remained close to the group and less than five years later, he integrates the staff with in his charge, the game on foot of the team in the Top 14.
A long fight against the disease
Bob sang-et-or screwed on the head, unstoppable smile, JLP tells his story. He apologizes for his flawless French and immediately recalls the moment when he learned of his illness: “I was completely shocked, I didn’t understand”
“I’m a good guy, I have a healthy lifestyle, I stray but not a lot, so why me?”
However, it was quickly necessary to put on the fighter’s outfit: “Thanks to my career, I felt strong in my head so I knew how to bounce back. If I hadn’t had the mind, surely I would have kept moaning and wondering, why me? I just reversed the question and thought, why not? Bad things can happen to anyone in life and they did.“
It was during the year 2018 that Jacques-Louis’ fight was fierce. He underwent a first operation in April to remove the tumor. Ten days followed in intensive care Montpellier : “During this period, my wife traveled 3,000 kilometers. There were my three children to look after and she came to Montpellier all the time. She played the role of mother and father. She gave me support… [il ne trouve pas les mots]. Our whole family is in South Africa. In France, there was only my wife and me with our three children. We had a bad time but also a good time in the end.“
“For six months I couldn’t speak. Words wouldn’t come out of my mouth.”
After a first operation, Jacques-Louis Potgieter had to return to the hospital six weeks later for, this time, a emergency operation : “I had to put valves in my head and I ended up in intensive care again. It was hard but hey, it had to be done: I wasn’t going to live with a tumor in my head, I trusted the doctors, I had no choice.”
And then of course, it’s a life turned upside down and a future that becomes uncertain. Despite a steel mind, we had to think of the worst : “One night with my wife, we had to talk about my will. I didn’t know what could happen at that moment, I didn’t know if I was going to be handicapped, if I was going to be able to stand up. It was a crazy time for us, everything was rushing. It was a sad story, it was hard. There were my children too, they didn’t understand why all this was happening to their father and I couldn’t answer them because I didn’t know either.“
And the good news has come and gone again and again. If the operation goes well, rehabilitation is long : “I couldn’t speak anymore, the words didn’t come out of my mouth anymore, it was terrible. The doctors told me it would come back. I couldn’t talk for six months and it came back little by little. I was stuttering, the words were coming out with difficulty [il imite la façon dont il parlait]. It was weird, but we had to go through this period and the best came after.“
Rehabilitation changed everything in his life
He was finally able to think and move on to rehabilitation in Perpignan. And there, as he confides, that’s when the life lesson began for him, that’s when his way of thinking has changed and that his life has, somewhere, changed: “It lasted five months and I say it, it was the best moment of my life”.
“I learned respect, I had a lot for the people who were at the center with me. People had lost an arm, a leg and they had to continue their lives like that.”
“And I didn’t have that, I was the brain and I could totally recover, my life was going to be able to go back to how it was. It also gave me confidence, I finally knew that I was going to be able to go back to how it was before..”
In a clear and firm tone, he affirms:It changes everything. My way of seeing life was no longer the same, rehabilitation has changed me. It was the moment when I could finally take control of my life. One day, I looked at myself in the mirror, I had put on weight, I had gained 16 kilos, I was fat! I said to myself, now you move!“
The unfailing and discreet support of the club
All this period, Jacques-Louis Potgieter lived it alongside his family, his wife Melani, whom he evokes each time with eyes filled with admiration and love, his children Jean-Luc (11 years old today today), Zacari (9 years old) and Aren (6 years old). But his family grew during these hardships: “USAP has really become my family“, he lets go immediately.
François Rivière, Christian Lanta, the staff, the players all had a valuable role in the JLP fight at their level. The manager Patrick Arlettaz is proud of what the club has been able to do behind the scenes : “It is often said that USAP is a family. Saying it is good, doing it is better. We didn’t do anything extraordinary except to support someone in our family who was in difficulty. The club and him have come a long way together and we also had to help him in his reintegration. Today, he will bring us the great knowledge that he has always had on footwork.“
“When I was in Montpellier, François [Rivière] and his wife came to see me. It touched my heart.”
The club supported him from the start. USAP doctors followed him (Carlos Vela and Marc Julia). Jacques-Louis was not at the club all the time, but never far away, as he says. And then there is the human contribution: these precious moments that marked the South African for life: “When I was in Montpellier, François [Rivière] and his wife came to see me. That’s already a big thing. Imagine, it’s a president who comes to see a player who can no longer play for his club. I knew that rugby was over for me, but François came to see me. It touched my heart. And, later, in 2019, he started asking me if I wanted to stay in France and we started talking about my future at the club. We actually reached an agreement at that time.“
The USAP, friends, do not let go of Jacques-Louis, and go even further, as the captain did Mathieu Acebes : “Matthew? He became my brother. He invited me to his house when I was not well. When there were parties between three-quarters, he said to me ‘come on with us!’ He is like a brother and a close brother. I experienced low morale and dark periods. I have already wondered if it was worth it to continue living like this. And, there was always Mathieu to tell me ‘come home even if you don’t say anything, come’.“
Public support
And then, during all this period there was also the support of the public. USAP supporters have always had a special affection for Jacques-Louis Potgieter, “However, I only played 11 games with USAP!“, he laughs. It was at the start of the 2017 season, a few months before the first comeback. The performances of the South African were promising, he was displaying a sparkling form before it all came to a screeching halt.
“Yet I only played 11 games with USAP!”
JLP quickly won the hearts of fans who finally always met him regularly in the aisles of Aimé-Giral, constantly slipping him friendly words and encouragement : “It has always touched me, there are plenty of people who say to me: ‘Hey you’re a real Catalan, Jacques-Louis now’!“. He bursts out laughing before concluding proudly: “And yes, I agree with that, I am a Catalan now !“
USAP fans can continue to salute Jacques-Louis, who will be present at all games this season with the coaching cap in charge of kicking. He does not want to say loud and clear that he is completely cured, he must regularly undergo MRIs. But what is certain is that he wants to savor, enjoy and give everything he can to USAP, his second family.
– maxppp