Suffering from Charcot’s disease, journalist Charles Biétry, an eminent figure in French sport and media, delivered a poignant testimony in the show Sept à Huit, this Sunday on TF1, on the occasion of the release of his memoirs, “The Last Wave”, published by Flammarion. Although today he no longer has the use of speech and his illness gains a little more ground each day, Charles Biétry has not lost his smile, his desire to live, but also his anger, which he leads against French politicians.
This one hopes for “a start [des] “French leaders” on the subject of the end of life, otherwise he will go “commit suicide in Switzerland”. “I blame the deputies and senators – not all – who did not do the job” and have “forgotten the French”, he says, referring to the bill on the end of life, abandoned at nine days of its adoption due to the dissolution of the National Assembly, and whose examination was many months late. “I am waiting for a start from our leaders, for them to vote for this law unanimously,” says Charles Biétry, 81 years old. This law would give “serenity in freedom”, he judges.
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-Prime Minister François Bayrou has indicated that he wants this bill to be separated to deal with palliative care on the one hand and assistance in dying on the other. “Going to commit suicide in Switzerland is not my end-of-life dream” and “palliative care, if there is a law, will perhaps do the trick,” hopes Charles Biétry. But “if in France the conditions are not met for a gentle and relatively calm death, I will go to Switzerland,” he insists.
An experimental treatment not authorized in France
For the show, the former journalist had typed his answers on a computer in advance. If he can still move to a certain extent, it is an artificial intelligence which reproduced his voice for this television program. Because “the words are in my head and I can’t get them out,” he explains. “Illness therefore gives me an appointment with death. Not sure I’ll come. In any case, I will fight first,” he warns, combative as always.
Charcot disease, incurable, is characterized by progressive paralysis of the muscles, and a life expectancy not exceeding three to five years, once the diagnosis is made. In “The Last Wave”, Charles Biétry recounts the announcement of the disease in August 2022, and the “dull anger”, the “feeling of injustice” which then rose. “This Charcot is strong but I’m at war,” he says again, confiding in taking treatment not authorized in France.
And he concluded his speech with eyes full of tears. “I’m not afraid of death, so I’m not afraid of the last wave. I’ve known for a while that I wasn’t forever. On the other hand, I’m afraid of being afraid, he swears. But my waves won’t do that to me. […] We all know that the end is inevitable and that grief will overtake those who remain. We have time to cry. In the meantime, let’s live each moment. »
