Églantine Émeyé and her documentary on the Timone hospital in Marseille: “Thank you!”

In his documentary broadcast on 22h55 on France 2 in the “Infrarouge” box, Églantine Éméyé delivers a heartbreakingly poignant message to the caregivers of the pediatric neurology unit of the Marseille Timone hospital where her son Samy, 17, died in February 2023. “Thank you! It was truly a cry from the heart! I really wanted to tell them how wonderful they have been, to me and to the others. They take care of everyone all the time. they take care patients of course, but also families. They go well beyond care.

Caregivers surprised to see themselves in this documentary

Églantine Éméyé had the greatest difficulty returning to this hospital which accompanied Samy to the end of his life’s journey. “A test”. But she is not ready to stop her commitment to sick children: “Right now, if I stopped all action, I would collapse.”

When she asked caregivers for permission to film a documentary, they were surprised by her approach. “They don’t realize it. In fact, when they saw the images, they were amazed.” The host highlights this valuable staff: “They don’t give up. And yet, their hearts must be full of little scars.”

Relieving families of guilt in the face of death

Professor Mathieu Milh announces the worst, the fatal outcome, to families, emphasizing guilt: “It’s not their fault. We can’t decide everything. It makes us humble in the face of illnesses that are stronger than us.” Églantine admits, she didn’t understand right away, she had to “digest” this conversation. “There will always be a part of me that wonders if I made the right choices at the right time. But it’s good to hear it.”

Life despite everything, life above all

Églantine said to herself “fascinated” by life, the belief in life”, in services where staff care for very sick or very disabled children, and who sometimes die. “You see young pregnant doctors passing by. You hear them laughing, you see them making plans. At first, I was almost shocked. I said to myself: ‘But how do they manage it? “But life is there all the same. They are right a hundred times over.”

These caregivers work in sometimes difficult conditions, due to lack of resources. Despite this, “They are always in action.”