It was a little over a year ago… In April 2023, Charles Biétry announced that he was suffering from Charcot disease. Wednesday March 13, 2024, in an open letter addressed to L'Équipe, the former sports director of Canal+ spoke about his daily life.
“I no longer walk, but every day, I climb on an exercise bike, I put myself in the hands of Jean-Baptiste, my essential physiotherapist, I try to splash around in a swimming pool.
I don't talk anymore, but I can still write on my computerI can read, I can watch TV and I don't feel cut off from the outside world”he said.
Very surrounded, Charles Biétry added: “When my reflection led me to think that the end of my life would be a nightmarewhen I understood that four stages awaited me, no longer walking, no longer speaking, no longer swallowing and finally no longer breathing, when I knew that atrocious suffering awaited me, when I became obvious that my family would suffer just as much to see me in a bed, inert, without possible exchange, waiting, for a long time perhaps, for a last breath, so the family came together”.
Michel Denisot: “He has a very complicated speech problem”
Wednesday November 6, 2024, Michel Denisot was invited to the microphone of Sud Radio. The opportunity to give news of his friend. “I went to see him a month ago in Carnac. I went to see him with Jean-Claude Darmon and Kimpembe, the PSG player. The three of us left one morning, we spent the morning with him and well listen, he is fighting against a complicated illness which is Charcot disease”he regretted before adding: “Today, he almost can't speak anymore, we don't understandhe has a very complicated speech problem and has difficulty moving around..
Despite everything, the host assured that Charles Biétry was fighting.
“Really very admiring of his fight, because it is an illness from which there is no cure for the moment and that's it. I talk with him, he can text, so I talk with him very often, we keep busy. For example, this evening, there is a PSG match, around 7 p.m., I will send him my prediction, he will send me his prediction.he said.
Grégoire Margotton: “He manages to remain dignified until the end”
A few months earlier, for Télé 7 jours, Grégoire Margotton, had given news of the former sports director of Canal+. “I try not to be sad. He manages to remain dignified until the end, magnificently accompanied by his wife. What is happening to him is a horrorbut I would have been lucky to have reached another level of relationship with him. Which are no longer professional at all, but really in the simplest emotional way. For that alone, this period will not only leave me with a memory marked by sorrow”he confided.
While he had already prepared his assisted suicide in Switzerland, it was for L'Équipe that Charles Biétry slipped: “With my wife and two children, we will leave together to end my wonderful life. I'm still not afraid of dyingbut I'm afraid of being afraid during this journey which will be difficult”.
