Marie-Eve Richard was 24 the first time. It was crazy, it seemed unreal, but she had melanoma, the deadliest skin cancer. Surgery followed, then remission, and she was able to resume life.
Until he was 39.
“There I had a mortgage, kids, a career, responsibilities. We don’t put money aside thinking we’re going to get sick, everything is affected: the couple, the family, the finances,” she says.
The diagnosis of cancer, made 2, came at the end of 2021, in the middle of a pandemic. January 2022, major leg surgery, and the following month the former photographer was offered a contract in Costa Rica, where she nevertheless decided to go with her husband.
“I had to protect myself from the sun, I didn’t want a third cancer! I looked for jerseys with protections and didn’t find anything nice, just long sleeves, black. I walked away with ill-fitting clothes that didn’t make me feel feminine,” she recalls.
Marie-Ève Richard started her business while undergoing chemotherapy for a year for her second skin cancer. Photo QMI Agency, Joël Lemay
A pink crab inspires her
On the beach, among a group of crabs, she saw a very pink specimen. It had lost its shell and was burned in the sun. Marie-Eve was touched and took him with her. Like her, he would have needed a shell to protect himself from the sun. This is where the idea of launching their swimwear line was born.
“I knew I wouldn’t be physically able to be a photographer anymore,” said the woman, who underwent a year of chemotherapy after returning from Costa Rica.
“I wanted us to think of something beautiful while protecting ourselves from the sun. So first for me, but also for children, babies and then I was told why not men too! From then on, everything happened at lightning speed,” says Marie-Eve, mother of two children aged 7 and 13.
Overcome the ordeal
It seems crazy to her now that she started a business while undergoing chemotherapy that left her shaking long and hard because she was putting too much energy into a simple task like vacuuming.
“It’s like I was in the body of an older person. I had to learn to manage my energy,” she says.
Marie-Eve took a long time to find the right fabric for her swimsuits that would really protect by blocking 98% of UV rays. She has seen a lot of rhetoric and false safeguards in this area. She also wanted an eco-friendly fabric, so she chose a product made from recycled fishing nets.
“It was very difficult to find. I was told to drop one of my two demands, but I didn’t want to compromise!”
Then came the design, website, marketing, financing and manufacturing; Thousands of things to do to bring Krabeo to life. And meanwhile, Marie-Eve was making a documentary that she hopes will soon be widely shared to help prevent cancers that are highly preventable.
Krabeo swimsuits are made in Quebec and block 98% of UVA and UVB rays; the highest level of protection available. Photo QMI Agency, Joël Lemay
Creating Krabeo and Doc.UV meant turning your ordeal into positive energy; it shrugged off the disease.
Today Marie-Eve is in good health. His swimsuits are online and recently available at the Les Vagues store in Havre-Saint-Pierre and soon at Canicule in Magog and Boucherville.
“I’m ready to develop, develop, develop!” she says with a big smile. He’s already being asked for protective gear for other outdoor activities, so maybe Krabeo is just getting out of the water…
Profile of Marie-Eve Richard
- Founder of Krabeo
- Age: 41 years old