Never has the closing of the Race of the Heart been so moving. And beautiful. This Friday, May 31, 2024, for the end of the fourth edition of this major organ donation awareness operation, the balloons filled the Cour de l’Iroise, at the top of the city. And at the stroke of noon, the entire school community gathered together, hearts hanging around their necks and eyes suddenly misty, around the same message: “For Alice”.
“She will continue to inspire us”
Alice Richard was one of them. From sixth to final year, from 2010 to 2017. “Years of freedom and carefreeness”, in the words of Violette. Years during which Alice had kept strong friendships: that damn weekend in March, it was with friends from the Iroise years that she went out.
Almost seven years after his departure, his mark has not faded within the establishment. Here, everyone praises a “radiant personality, always ready to help”, an example “of kindness, which will continue to inspire us”. “We found lots of photos of her when we organized a race against hunger, for Burkina Faso. Alice was always very involved,” says Anne-Gwen Uguen, librarian and initiator of the Course du coeur.
“Alice was mobilized against homophobia, for the cause of women, the environment… These societal battles of her time,” confirms her father, Maurice. Despite their proximity to the tragedy, her parents did not hesitate when Anne-Gwen Uguen asked them for this tribute day, through the Cavale Blanche organ harvesting coordination team. “It’s a strong gesture on the part of the school. And it helps raise awareness among children, and their parents, about organ donation,” they confirm soberly.
We are still in pain. But over the years, we will say that three people live thanks to Alice
“A legacy of life and hope”
In the family, the question of organ donation was no longer a long-standing one. “Alice’s grandmother was unable to complete a donation procedure because she had undergone chemotherapy for cancer. We had therefore discussed the subject since adolescence with Alice and her brother,” explains Marie-Noëlle, Alice’s mother.
When the tragedy occurred, the family knew perfectly well Alice’s wishes “if something happened”. An unsurprising choice for the woman who discovered a vocation as a social worker at the age of seven, which she would then put into practice in the very precarious service of the CCAS in Brest. And who had to begin a bone marrow donation protocol, before a crazy car took his life.
“His liver responded to a vital emergency and his two kidneys allow two people to no longer undergo daily dialysis,” reveals Marie-Noëlle Richard. “I think it’s a gesture that he would have liked.”
A “legacy of life and hope”, as the second year students of the high school put it this Friday, and which can make its parents proud, without consoling them yet. “We are always missing her, in pain,” her mother whispers. But over the years, we will say that three people live thanks to Alice.”
