Daniel Rondot keeps a smile when he talks about his obstacle course. It all started with the first cigarettes in the early 70s.”I started smoking in the army when I was 20. And then today, I am 73 years old and I stopped 40 years later“, explains the former farmer from Haute-Marne, settled between Langres and Is-sur-Tille. “In fact, I had a problem with my lungs. And then it went well“, he hastens to add. And he explains what happened to him.
“I said to myself, we have to do something.”
“I had a tumor in my lung. The lung had to be removed. I thought it was the end“, he confides. A tumor discovered twelve years ago, because he was only coughing. Worse, “After a while, I was actually coughing up blood. So there, I said to myself, we have to do something.“He therefore underwent surgery in the following month at the Dijon University Hospital.”They removed my left lung, but I’m doing well. Except that we had to do chemo and that’s the worst part. This is where we realize that we have been doing stupid things for 40 years.“
A journey that commands respect
For his part, the president of the ABIR (Burgundy Association of Respiratory Insuffisants) Denis Clément says he admiring Daniel Rondot’s journey. “Stop [de fumer] because you can see that one day or another, it could be fatal. I have a lot of admiration, it worked out in the best possible way for him. But there are also so many cases where, unfortunately, people disappear and a certain number are left on the side of the road. It’s dramatic.”
Elie Ducos
For Philippe Camus, professor of pulmonology at Dijon University Hospital and president of the Prévention Tabac network, “it’s a very beautiful evocation of someone who stopped too late because he was ill. But ultimately, by chance, because not everyone is so lucky, while we could still treat it by a radical intervention that our surgeon colleagues have done. He still lost years of tobacco which does not serve much purpose, except to impoverish people, because perhaps there is the price of an agricultural tractor in the tobacco smoked unnecessarily.“
A cancer still too little known to the general public
The pulmonologist at Dijon University Hospital Marjolaine Georges explains that lung cancer is still diagnosed late in many cases. “It is not a cancer for which there is still an institutional and governmental screening policy, unlike breast cancer or colorectal cancer.“Lung cancer generally begins with a pulmonary nodule, a small tumor which will grow little by little. But at this stage of the disease, it does not give symptoms. Hence the fact that we pass often nearby. “When the nodule has become a larger mass, explains the specialist, it will cause pain or shortness of breath or coughing up blood. And often, unfortunately, at this stage, the disease has become generalized and there are metastases. Unfortunately, we still treat patients at an advanced stage of the disease too often.” A large number of cases could thus be avoidedaccording to the professor of pulmonology.
Elie Ducos
“Tobacco-free month is here to say ‘it’s time’”
“It seems difficult, but just because you’ve tried and failed doesn’t mean you can’t one day succeed.“Professor Philippe Camus is optimistic. “It’s a matter of decision and the professional is there to ensure that this decision lives. The month without tobacco, he is there to say ‘it’s time’. Smokers do not have the gong to say ‘ we start today.’ several decades to become palpable and we suffer from it.
“There are lots of beautiful things without smoking, that’s why I get up in the morning”
Daniel Rondot lives today with only one poumwe, and even if he sometimes lacks a little breath, that doesn’t stop him from cycling. “But I am anti-electric bike!“, he explains. “I started again as before. It’s not too bad. We have to slow down because we’re a little out of breath. When I was doing the tests, I was told: ‘sometimes, there are people who have two lungs and which don’t blow any better.’ A rather normal life, then. “I admire nature and I tell myself that I shouldn’t be there anymore. So I appreciate it. When you smoke, you are completely addicted. While there are lots of beautiful things without smoking, that’s why I get up in the morning, because I like to be alone and I go for a walk. I hear the little birds, it’s great.“
Elie Ducos
