Elise, 21 years old
Elise is a young woman passionate about communication and social networks. She was very sporty and did a DUT technical marketing degree before her cancer diagnosis. Today, she is doing a bachelor’s degree in communications “digital project manager” and working in a communications and advertising agency specializing in disability.
“There are 80% people with disabilities for 20% able-bodied people, it’s really great from a working conditions point of view, we couldn’t dream of better!”
The cancer that Elise was diagnosed with when she was only 18 years old was Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. This lymphoma is a cancer of the lymphatic system which mainly affects the population aged 15 to 30 and later the population aged 60. In Elise’s case, the latter appeared in the form of a very large lymph node in the neck.
“I found out quite ridiculously while heckling with my boyfriend and I slipped on his knee. At first I thought it was his fault but actually no, it was an already existing lymph node. I had no basic symptoms, in the case of this lymphoma we will talk about fatigue, night sweats, loss of appetite and quite a few other symptoms but I had no symptoms apart from this. swollen gland. ”
In terms of mental health, it was complicated for Elise. In 2020, after the end of her treatment, she wanted to resume her studies but developed a school phobia due to the social isolation she experienced.
it was complicated for me to be so isolated and to see my life change completely
“I no longer wanted to go to school, I couldn’t anymore so I had to switch to a completely remote format and therefore social isolation because of COVID and people who no longer speak to me because I don’t didn’t come to class. I really liked going out and partying, it was complicated for me to be so isolated and to see my life change completely. I thought I would resume my life where it had left off before cancer but I had attention problems, chronic fatigue, I needed third-time work because I was much slower at writing. I lost a lot of faculties and these are things that I did not expect.
On top of that, she developed a pathology following her chemotherapy called Bouveret’s Tachycardia. This is a cardiac pathology which causes extra systoles and which makes the heart beat rapidly without necessarily any reason.
Elise is a young woman who loved going to school, she was happy to go there and little by little it became a permanent anxiety.
“The more it went, the more I went backwards, my stomach is going into knots on Sunday evening. With the stress of recovery (after a year out of school due to cancer, editor’s note) I could no longer follow. The distanciel helped me, I appreciated this solitude and this isolation even if it was not my nature.”
She realized that the people around her were not necessarily endowed with good attentions. The change of school helped him to overcome this anxiety. Since last September, Elise has joined a new school and is thriving on social networks thanks to her growing community and her explanatory and preventive videos about cancer.
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