Written by Nicolas Goyet
At 41, Anne-Claude Raffanel faces very advanced skin cancer. This resident of Saint-Savournin nevertheless fights against the disease with impressive strength. Without a solution in France, she hopes to soon be admitted to an Israeli hospital for new treatment.
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It was in March 2020, in the middle of Covid, that Anne-Claude Raffanel, 37, learned that her life would never again be the same. A mole on the back. Diagnosis: stage 3 melanoma. Melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, which can spread more easily than other types of skin cancer.
The daily life of this resident of Saint-Savournin (Bouches-du-Rhône) then falls into a permanent struggle to live.
“My first instinct was to say: I can’t do this to my children”
Anne-Claude Raffanel, suffering from skin cancerat France 3 Paca
At the time, Olivia was 11 years old, Lilian was 8. At home, they had not yet heard the word cancer. Even if the fight against the disease has already started for their mother. A permanent challenge fought out to the rhythm of successive therapies, terribly trying and unfortunately often unsuccessful.
“I tolerated my first immunotherapy treatment very badly (which uses the patient’s immune system to fight cancer). I even developed an autoimmune disease (when the immune system itself attacks the body). We then stopped the 2nd treatment, the benefit-risk ratio was unfavorable.”
The situation did not improve the following year. Four pulmonary nodules are detected and, in a new twist, Anne-Claude must face breast cancer, treated, fortunately successfully, with radiotherapy and hormone therapy. “There, my daughter started asking me questions, says the mother who has to tell him more about her health. My son asked me: “Can we die?” I told him yes but it can also be cured. He told me: “So it’s okay.” Children don’t think their parents can die…”
The result of the lung biopsy after the detection of the nodules is clear: stage 4 melanoma. The new immunotherapy treatment is rather well supported but in November 2023, Anne-Claude learned of the appearance of brain lesions, treated by radiosurgery (gamma knife), two hours of rays with a helmet fixed in the skull. She continued with successive courses of immunotherapy, but despite these treatments and two new radiosurgeries (including 1 which lasted 7 hours), dozens of new brain lesions appeared. “The radiosurgeon then told me that it was intractable, that I would have to spend days and days in the machine…”
The sentence from his dermatologist falls like a blow: “We no longer have any therapeutic options to offer you. If you have a lead abroad, go for it!”
While France can only offer him palliative care, a brand new therapeutic solution, that of lymphocytes infiltrating the tumor, appears to be the only salvation. And in France, no trial of this type is planned for a year. It is too risky to wait because the lesions go too quickly.
Here she is now outside of any healthcare system, alone in the face of illness, driven by an incredible energy for life. “I put myself on whatsapp groups of patients. I contacted several hospitals, in the United States, Australia and Israel.”
And the Sheba Medical Center, located near Tel Aviv, could very soon welcome Anne-Claude for a one-month hospitalization. Lymphocytes, isolated from the patient’s tumor, are amplified in vitro, then reinjected.
“ÇIt is very expensive ($125,000 advertised in Israel, $515,000 in the United States) and there is a 30% response rate for patients like me. But I will fight until the end. I won’t give up. My strength is my children, continues the patient who has just launched a fundraiser to finance her therapy.
His steely morale surprises more than one. His energy and his smile every day too. “I manage to have an almost normal life even if I sleep a lot. Morale is so important in this type of illness, tells this young woman whose love life has also been very disrupted recently. I left the father of my children and… I found my childhood sweetheart, 22 years later! Every other week I have my children, the other week I find my 16 year old with butterflies in my stomach!”
Anne-Claude Raffanel’s testimony is touching and her smile and her voice vibrate with great hopes. An exemplary fight where we would like to see life and love stronger than anything.
