2023-10-12 04:40:01
Par Mathilde Carnet
Published on 12 Oct 23 at 6:40 See my news Follow Le Courrier de l’Eure Mylène Barbaray has been fighting cancer for a year and a half. ©Mathilde Carnet
At 41, Mylène Barbaray, resident of Saint-Pierre-du-Bosguérard (Eure), is a flirtatious and luminous woman. Looking at her, nothing suggests that this mother of two children has been fighting cancer for a year and a half now. Femininity, fear, pain and hope, Mylène gives us her testimony.
Early cancer
Mylène was not 40 years old when she felt, one spring day in 2022, a lump under her armpit. “Not naturally worried” and without a predisposition to breast cancer in her family, the mother of two children, aged 22 and 12, nevertheless decided to feel her breast, a few days later, after severe chest pain. . “I felt a little lump above my nipple. You really had to press to feel it, I didn’t realize that before,” she says.
“The announcement is a shock”
She then quickly consults the doctor, who orders a mammogram and an ultrasound. And in April, the ax falls: the surgeon tells her that she has so-called “triple negative” stage 3 breast cancer, a relatively rare breast cancer which represents around 10% to 15% of cases. “The announcement was a shock. I had tears in my eyes and had difficulty realizing it,” remembers Mylène.
Her life then takes a turn: from the first chemotherapy, the childminder takes time off, and her weeks are punctuated by appointments at the Mathilde clinic in Rouen. In her personal life, the mother must announce the news to her children. “My oldest had tears in his eyes, my youngest didn’t really understand. »
At the rate of the disease
Used to being in great shape, Mylène finds herself tired, nauseous, and prone to infections. Very feminine, she also has difficulty accepting her new reflection in the mirror. “Losing your hair is hard. I immediately wore wigs and put makeup on my eyelashes and eyebrows. But, in the evening, I took everything off, and it was hard to see myself like that. »
After five months of chemotherapy, good news: the tumor is shrinking. In October 2022, the surgeon removes what remains, hope is reborn.
With each relapse, you have to digest the news.
Mylène Barbaray
“At New Year 2023, I celebrated my remission”, a few days later, she experienced three days of visual disturbances, “like flashes in the eyes”. After an MRI, Mylène learns that she has two nodules in her skull: the breast cancer has spread its metastases to her brain. “This time, I told myself that I wasn’t going to make it, I was afraid of dying. With each relapse, you have to digest the news. » After several radiotherapy sessions, Mylène’s illness was stable between February and August. She even planned to return to work in September. But, on the night of August 4 to 5, the young woman suffered a major epileptic attack: her brain lesions grew again.
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Living in uncertainty
Since then, Mylène has lived in uncertainty. Doctors cannot determine whether it is the disease that is returning, or whether it is a complication due to radiotherapy. “I live in uncertainty, I have small epileptic seizures every day. » Distraught and without treatment until the diagnosis is established, Mylène created a jackpot which would help him finance treatment in Germany, which does not exist in France. This is dendritic cell therapy (DCT), an immune therapy, not covered by Social Security. “The first injection costs €18,500, the second 13,000,” explains Mylène. “It would be a chance for me to heal and stay alive as long as possible. » Posted online in mid-September, the prize pool has €2,000 and around sixty entries. “There are people I know, others I don’t. It’s very touching. »
Hope for treatment
For the future, Mylène wants to maintain hope, even if the illness is long. “Sometimes I tell myself that I’m not going to make it, the anxiety comes back up. And then I think of my children, I don’t want to leave them, I stay positive. »
Single, the young woman also talks about the difficulty of solitude. “Even if I am well surrounded, in the evening I am alone to experience this. It’s harder to meet someone when you’re sick. » Mylène wants her testimony to be used to raise awareness among women (and men) about breast cancer. “You have to feel yourself, even before the age of 50, I regret not having done it more regularly. This month of pink October is very important! »
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