Committed to the fight against brain cancer, Laetitia Clabé-Lévère will carry the Olympic flame to Montpellier

Laëtitia Clabé-Levère, avec la mascotte des Jeux olympiques 2024 et son livre-témoignage qui vient de paraître. Midi Libre – DORIAN CAYUELA

The president of the Stars in the Sea association, committed to research against brain cancer, is one of the torchbearers who will carry the Olympic flame on May 13 in Montpellier.

In just a few years, his association Stars in the Sea has become one of the leading structures in the field of brain cancer, both for assistance with medical research and for support. to patients and their families. Next May 13 in Montpellier, it is this cause that Laëtitia Clabé-Lévère will symbolically carry, by participating in the Olympic torch relay through the city.

Glioblastoma currently incurable

A source of pride for the Montpellier woman, an executive trainer of operating room nurses at the University Hospital, who founded her association in 2019, after losing her first husband to glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer that is currently incurable. For her, this event around the Olympic Games is an additional opportunity to publicize her fight and that of the 800 members of the association, which will celebrate its five years of existence on March 17. nbsp; 

"It was in July 2023 that I responded to a call for applications published by Coca-Cola. You had to have completed a sporting challenge representing surpassing oneself, and embody a cause". Criteria that Laëtitia Clabé-Levère met for having participated, in January 2023, in the ice water swimming world championships, in Samoëns, in order to raise funds for medical research. "In my application, I explained that the Olympic flame would represent the hope of families and the "stars" missing people." 

Sporty and passionate about the Olympics

The definitive favorable response arrived at the beginning of January. "It'was a joy, an emotion. I have always been passionate about the Olympic Games. I come from a family of skiers. I remember the Albertville Olympics, I was 13, confides this sportswoman who practiced synchronized swimming, scuba diving, and participated to several swimming challenges at sea.  How will his participation take place in practice ? “I'm waiting for information which should arrive at the end of March. I don't know the route but I know there will be people around me." 

Giving research a boost

On May 13, she is counting on her strides with strong media coverage to get people talking about glioblastoma. "We don't talk much about it, even if the operation "May in gray" was created to make it known. This cancer can happen to anyone. There are environmental and genetic factors. We want to raise awareness of the warning signs, so that gliomas do not progress to high grade." As for research, it still lacks resources. "Some researchers would go out of business if we didn't help them. We need to give teams a boost so that they can work without spending their time looking for funding." < /p>

Since its creation, Stars in the Sea has collected 700,000 € donations, particularly through sporting events, for the benefit of different scientific structures. "In 2023, we notably contributed 40,000 € at the Montpellier Cancer Institute, 15,000 € at the Functional Genomic Institute of Montpellier, 30,000 € to the Gliotex project (Brain Institute in Paris, Editor's note), 30,000 € to the company GlioCure in Angers".           

Wednesday March 27, as part of Brain Week, the association is organizing a film debate at the Montpellier Botanical Institute. Micro-reports will be broadcast and followed by information and discussions on the journey of researchers, patients and caregivers.

Illness, support: his book-testimony

Laëtitia Clabé-Levère has just published a book in which she recounts the illness of her first husband, who was struck by glioblastoma and died in 2018. Its title, "Adishat" , "goodbye" in Béarnais patois, in reference to its region of origin. "I talk about his journey, his death, life taking over, the creation of the association." Several pages are devoted to a "wall of tributes" intended for families, for their missing loved ones. "It'was important because they are part of this story. I know who each person is, we are in permanent contact, like a big family." Researchers contributed to the work in its epilogue, while the preface is signed by the coordinator of the Gliotex program, focused on the development of therapeutic strategies. "Adishat" is available in major bookstores, in stores and on the internet.