“I didn’t think about death but about my hair”: in her boutique in Montpellier, Marie helps women with cancer

Accessoires sur la tête pour la photo, Marie respire la joie de vivre comme sa boutik. Midi Libre – GIACOMO ITALIANO

In her small shop on avenue de Palavas in Montpellier, Marie welcomes women with cancer and pampers them so that they leave relieved of some of the weight they owe to illness.

There are women who change the world with their hearts. And Marie-Agnès Bellot, whom everyone calls Marie, is one of them. Her motto: "There n'there is no chance, but only meetings"defines it perfectly and in every way. This 48-year-old from Hérault – who lives in Frontignan – who has already gone through the hurricane of two breast cancers and who has just learned of the arrival of third used her experience to enable women suffering from the disease to avoid the setbacks she herself had endured.

She has therefore transcended the experience of illness to best support many women today with the kindness and benevolence that characterize her.

Illness, treatments and "others" needs

"It all started when I noticed a lump in my breast, I was 30 years old, I ;was in the process of separating, I had two young children." The terrible announcement came on December 26 "At least They gave me Christmas, she smiles. At that moment, she admits it: "I didn't think about death but about my hair."

And despite the complete removal of her breast, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, hormone therapy, immunotherapy… what she remembers from the disease it's a struggle to find stores suited to your needs at this precise moment.

"I found myself in a regular hair store, they put a prosthesis on me, it looked like I was going to the carnival, I collapsed."

She also remembers the moment when, after having her head shaved, she had to cross the city center of Sète to get back to her car , not to mention the detour to the orthopedic equipment store to find an unsuitable bra….

But each time, she tries to take the positive: "I shit it, but I continued to party, to live", and to remember, laughing, the time when on this nightclub parking lot, her breast prosthesis slips out of the bra or pads it with cotton before another night out.

From all this, like ingredients for a fabulous recipe, she will little by little glean each episode to use it wisely for others, those who will have to face cancer in their turn. First via a blog through which she will begin to respond to women virtually who ask her questions that they did not dare to ask doctors or to the medical profession.

But now, ten years after its recurrence, a slightly strange hollow is felt in the same place of the cursed cancerous lump from the start. Rebelote is back for a spin. Chemotherapy, removal of prosthesis, discovery of another tumor as a bonus, until removal of the ovaries: the total…

And this time, like a trigger, she asks herself the question of a change of life. She said to herself: "I'm going to do what I would have liked someone to do for me." And with all this incredible energy that drives her, a new fight begins to open the place she has in mind. The banks don't follow because she had two cancers. "You'have been ill so you'have no right to continue living…" She doesn't does not give up and obtains two honorary loans. 

No to prejudices

Her shop also allows her to fight against the prejudices linked to cancer: "No, not all wigs itch, no, the effects of chemo are not what we think, and we can continue to take care of our children… Many women come with a lot of prejudices that are ingrained and I take the time to reestablish certain truths."

A place in its image

"I wanted it to be welcoming like a friend's home, not medicalized, we had to be able to come by tram but also that& ;#39;we can park. And support for Social Security…"

Everything to avoid an expensive purchase

Marie’s objective is that women who sometimes have difficulty making ends meet due to illness (exceeding fees, less income…) do not deprive themselves for what’ ;she considers it a need.

Hair prosthesis, breast prosthesis, she always manages to offer products that are reimbursed or that she subsidizes. She even takes care of the papers for Social Security, for mutual insurance. "I remove this administrative burden from them and that saves them from having to advance the sums too.&quot ;

Moreover with her sister Géraldine and her daughter Maëva, she even created the association “Entre Nous” to help finance some of the adapted post-operative bras which "not only relieve pain but also allow better healing."

She also offers a heart-shaped cushion made by her mother which, once slipped under the arm, provides clear relief.

In September 2017, Marie's Boutik opened its doors (the K as a reference to cancer). And when you enter the structure, the place is colorful, charming, like a cocoon, filled with accessories…hellip; as his look. Paintings litter the ground with the first name of each woman, each of "ses Louloutes" accompanied, each being singular and unique, aged from 10 years to 98 years.

Only by appointment for a special moment

La Boutik de Marie, which recently moved, is located at 134 avenue de Palavas. Marie receives by appointment only from Tuesday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Such. 06 18 60 51 25. You can also follow her on Instagram and Facebook.

Personalized appointments

At Marie's, we don't come to choose a prosthesis, we come for the welcome and personalized support. She welcomes women by privatizing her store for each of them -they. She will thus be able to share the intimate, "pass on the tips gleaned, the tips… The women come because I have been ill, they can tell me anything ask."

She created her own brand. Free Midi – GIACOMO ITALIANO

6TERS-K, its own brand

Marie Bellot also created her own brand 6TERS-K (for cancer sisters) with articles bearing positive messages and full of humor.

Like the bag stamped with “I can't, I have chemo”, or the apron “This year I'm going to shit but I'm going to win”.

She pampers her “Louloutes” with kindness by explaining to them the stages of the disease. Free Midi – GIACOMO ITALIANO

Each need is carefully examined: hair prosthesis, breast prosthesis, bra, makeup, care products. She reassures, explains the protocols, adapts each element, shaves, advises, listens… Some come from far away, Lyon, Lozère, Perpignan. And this is no coincidence…

I subscribe to read more