Rémy Girard, father of a severely disabled child, explains that he “could be hired in a CHSLD tomorrow morning”. “I’m used to it, I’m a caregiver, it’s everyday.”
Rémy Girard was generally discreet about his private life and, as part of the supervisor’s balado, confided to Marina Orsini’s microphone some details of his daily life with his disabled son.
Renaud, her son, is 26 years old. He has been suffering from cerebral palsy since birth, has been using a wheelchair since childhood, cannot see the objects around him and underwent several orthopedic surgeries as he grew. However, he can occasionally eat by himself, can move his upper body, has learned to entertain himself with music and is always in a good mood.
“He doesn’t know that he’s not ‘normal,'” admits the actor. He doesn’t suffer. But at the age of 21, school is over for these children.
“It’s not courage”
However, he can count on the help of the day center Les Fantastiques de Magog, where his son likes to go every day.
While many would describe his life as courageous, he replies, “It’s not courage.” When faced with this, tell yourself this is going to be your life, and it is so.
At 72, the actor is aware that he’s aging. The actor says he’s worried about the years passing and the life his son will lead once he leaves.
“We have a way of living together that is not unhappy but a bit clumsy at times, especially as we get older. I’m seriously starting to say to myself: when I’m gone… I’ll look for a place to stay, but it’s not easy. I will have no choice.
Very premature
Renaud was born at the age of six and a half months and is one of the very premature babies. A severe right frontal lobe hemorrhage at birth left him with very serious consequences. He was diagnosed with a severe disability when he was 18 months old and has few memories of his mother, who took her own life when he was 4½ years old.
A single father for many years, Rémy Girard has rebuilt his life with Nadine, his lover of the last 22 years. From the start, it was out of the question for him that his wife would take on the role of “surrogate mother”.
“She helps me a lot, but she is not responsible for Renaud. She can cook him food when I don’t have time, but otherwise I have that responsibility,” explains the Dupin investigator’s interpreter from the Portrait Robot series.
– Hear Rémy Girard tell his story in this episode of caregiver podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/des-histoires-qui-r%C3%A9sonnent-le-balado-des-proches-aidants/id1564893544