Family life in the face of pediatric cancer: a trying marathon

"O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao/ Una morning mi sono alzato/ E ho trovato l'invasor." For a long time, Paul (all those interviewed for this article requested anonymity) could no longer stand this Italian anthem to the resistance against fascism, which his daughter Salomé, then 3 and a half years old, often hummed. He had it in his head when he learned, by telephone, the results of his child's biopsy. On the terrace of a square in the heart of Paris, at the beginning of the summer of 2020, their life suddenly "collapsed . " "L'invasor" is pediatric liver cancer. Paul and his wife, Christelle, became fighters in spite of themselves.

As they prepare to welcome their second child a month later, these two Parisian geologists are plunged into "a parallel world where everything seems unreal." They understand that they are going to "change their lives." They quickly spring into action, clinging to the oncologist's two "saving" sentences, which almost overshadowed the rest of the meeting: "It's very treatable" and "Salomé will be starting middle school." Amid the medical jargon, only hope is evident.

That summer, their new daily life took shape "on track" , with a guiding principle: that the illness took up as little space as possible in their family life. Salomé was treated at the Curie Institute in Paris, a few hundred meters from their home, making it easier to come and go. Their grandparents came from Brittany to support them. The first weeks were spent in "dissociation" , between the chemotherapy treatments and daily life "as usual, as much as possible" , with the happy event to come on the palpable horizon. "Between the two, there was no point asking questions" , says Paul : it's about not letting yourself be "overwhelmed" . Auguste was born a few weeks later - "a great moment of joy in the midst of chaos" , his father modestly said, almost five years later, in the living room of their apartment.

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