A family man confrontation The man suffering from colon cancer, who has only months to live, will soon give up what could be his last chance: treatment offered in Japan.
“What touches me the most are my children and my girlfriend. “I feel like I’m leaving it behind me,” breathed Christian Beaulieu on the phone this week, visibly weakened by the illness.
In March 2021, just three weeks after the birth of his second child, little Laurier, the now 39-year-old accepted the verdict he so feared with horror.
After living with symptoms for more than two years, he was diagnosed with colon cancer.
“We blamed it on my anxiety or my irritable bowel syndrome. But it kept getting worse. I was told that at my age it couldn’t be cancer,” complains the resident of Montcalm district in Quebec, who is angry at the specialists for not sounding the alarm sooner.
“It’s shocking,” he continued. But you have to learn to live with it. I can’t go back to the past.
He would also like to warn anyone who experiences physical abnormalities and does not feel well managed to not take matters into their own hands.
“It might be worth going private for $500 and getting the facts straight. I regret that I didn’t do it myself,” admitted Mr. Beaulieu.
nothing is going right anymore
When the ax fell, experts told him that with any luck he would only live a few years at most.
Mr. Beaulieu and his family, when the illness had not yet affected his physical appearance. Courtesy of Christian Beaulieu
“But the treatments no longer work there,” he said. I also have Magané liver, which limits the options for me here. My liver couldn’t metabolize the chemotherapy.”
“I’m not given much hope. “Three weeks ago I was given a life expectancy of 3 to 6 months,” explained the man, who has lost about 80 pounds since the onset of the disease.
But even if he sometimes speaks into the past against his will, Christian Beaulieu tries as best he can to maintain hope.
Projects
He contacted a British man who was also a father and suffered from the same cancer and was successfully treated in Japan.
“The CAR-T therapy worked really well for him. The treatment is performed in Quebec but is not approved for my type of cancer. And it’s allowed there.”
That’s why the building contractor, cycling and Formula 1 lover sees this opportunity as his last chance, so to speak, not to leave his little family and to fight until the end.
“I have hope that it will work, but I remain realistic. I know she will be well taken care of,” he confided to his wife and children, still expecting the worst.
“What I liked most was that I had plans with my girlfriend. “We wanted to buy and renovate buildings,” whispered Christian Beaulieu. They were great projects.”
“My 5-year-old daughter Margot is understanding more and more. “We’ll tell him that Dad might be in heaven soon,” he winced, his throat tight.
“That he will always be in her heart, even if he is no longer there physically,” the father concluded through tears.
To implement this project, his long-time friend Thomas Casault started a crowdfunding campaign, which after just a few days exceeded the estimated amount of $105,000 for treatment and travel.
“He called me this morning to tell me he was leaving on September 11th. Tickets are purchased. It’s been a long time since I heard him so happy. I think it will do him good to show his children that he went to the end of his abilities,” Mr. Casault told the Journal on Thursday afternoon.
“It’s a relief. “We are truly touched by the gesture of generosity of the people who raised this large amount in just 35 hours,” added Christian’s wife Émilie Girard-Tremblay. The whole family is leaving with him and we will stay there with him for a month while he undergoes treatment. It’s been a rollercoaster ride for two years. It’s been more intense for three weeks. We survive.”
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