the essential
The evening of support for Manoa, the young Ariégeoise who was seriously burned at Halloween, had the expected success on December 27 at Pujols. The young girl’s mother is now working to create an association to prevent domestic accidents and support families going through the same difficulties as her.
It was only supposed to be a support concert, it was a long evening of sharing and emotion. More than a hundred people went on Friday evening to the village hall of Pujols, a small village near Pamiers, to help Manoa and her family, in great difficulty since the 13-year-old Ariégeoise was was seriously burned in a domestic accident a few days before Halloween. And if the room was a little big, that didn’t matter: the solidarity was there, carried by the galloping children, the songs of the Carte Blanche group and the fideua cooked up by the caterer Chez Pierrot.
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First moment of emotion at the start of the evening, when a slideshow retraced the accident of which Manoa was the victim. Difficult images, but which also showed what progress has been made in a little over two months despite the difficulties, while Manoa watched alongside his mother Caroline and Lydie, one of the singers of Carte Blanche, at the origin of the evening. A little later, the whole family took the stage to thank those present.
Last moment at the end of the evening, when the teenager once again went on stage, this time to sing, as Lydie had promised her when the young girl had barely come out of the coma: “My philosophy” by Amel Bent and “So that you still love me” by Céline Dion, with the group and her family, as she did before her accident. In between, entertainment, smiles, songs and a smiling Manoa, at ease despite the mask she has to wear and the scars from the transplants.
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“It cried a little bit, though”
“It was a bit of a tear, all the same, between the slideshow and everything else,” Caroline admits. “But it was the kindness of the people, above all, that touched us. Even for the raffle, prizes that had been won were been made for the children.”
A kindness with sometimes unexpected marks. “Manoa’s friends and the teachers from his college participated in the prize pool, Lydie underlined, while the others are more people who follow the group and who wanted to help. There is even a table of ten -eight people celebrating a birthday: they don’t know anyone, but they wanted to show solidarity.”
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Other gestures of support, the mayor of Laroque-d’Olmes, Patrick Laffont, came to offer his room for future events, as the mayor of Pujols, Jérôme Blasquez, has already done. Several hairdressers from the surrounding area donated wigs, which Manoa had chosen not to wear that evening, while many partners offered their help, from Vernet to Lavelanet.
An association to help other families
The story of Manoa will not end there. Her mother has in fact decided to set up an association, Tous pour Manoa, in order to cope with the long years of care that still await the young girl, but not only that. “Treating Manoa will take at least two more years, and even until he reaches the age of majority,” emphasizes Caroline, “but the association will also serve to help people who are in the same situation as us.”
But for now, Manoa and his family are enjoying the few days of respite they still have left. “We’re going back on the road on January 5 to return to Miribel (the care center which welcomes Manoa near Lyon, Editor’s note), says Caroline to finish. We’re going to leave the prize pool until the end of January, we’re also going to continue our demonstrations , we resume our battle, the holidays are over.”
