It is a real fight that Charles Biétry has been waging for several years. In April 2023, the former journalist who served as sports director of theAFP, Canal+, France Televisions et beIN Sports announced in a moving interview published in The Team that he was suffering from Charcot's disease. The former top reporter revealed that he had already prepared for assisted suicide abroad: “We organized everything with my wife and children. I don't want to be plugged into a machine to breathe when there is nothing left, no future. I don't want to suffer and especially make my family suffer (…) I registered in Switzerland for assisted suicide, all the papers are signed.“
Michel Denisot knows Charles Biétry very well having worked with him for many years within Canal+. Guest of the show Sud Radio Média this Wednesday, November 6 to present his latest book Very first timewhich focuses on personalities who began their careers on the encrypted channel, the former presenter of Grand Journal took the opportunity to give news of his friend with whom he maintains regular contact: “I went to see him a month ago in Carnac (Morbihan). I went to see him with Jean-Claude Darmon and (Presnel) Kimpembe, the PSG player. The three of us left one morning, we spent the morning with him”said Michel Denisot, before discussing the difficult evolution of Charles Biétry's illness. “Listen, he's fighting a complicated illness which is Charcot's disease. Today, he can almost no longer speak, we don't understand, he has a very complicated speech problem and has difficulty moving around.“
Michel Denisot discusses Charles Biétry's illness
Despite this painful ordeal, Michel Denisot assured that Charles Biétry fought tirelessly: “He has a youthful eye and he fights… 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 (Wednesday) there is a PSG match, around 7 p.m., I will send him my prediction, he will send me his prediction.“
In addition to illness, Charles Bétry is leading another fight, since the one who celebrated his 81st birthday on November 5 is campaigning for a law on the end of life in France to see the light of day, as he explained to L'Équipe : “Who can claim the right to choose my death? I respect the position of those who, the vast majority of whom are in good health, do not think like me but I say to them “let me die in peace”. I also tell them “let me continue to fight the disease”. And I tell all my sick friends “hang in there, the research is progressing. Perhaps some of us will be saved. » Not me probably but at least I would have seen a first step forward, still insufficient, from which I could benefit. And which allows me to conclude that it is a small step for humanity but a big step for dignity.”
