INTERVIEW – In the middle of Pink October, historian Virginia Giraud gives her exclusive testimony and addresses the issue of cancer in the workplace. When, how to talk about it, to whom?
“You don’t leave your body at the door of the company.” This quote, delivered recently at a women’s health conference * by Juliette Mauro, co-founder of Femtech France and founder of My S Life, perfectly illustrates the paradox: healthcare. We spend endless time in the office, workplace, company. However, bringing your troubles and illnesses with you is a completely different story. Especially for women. Talking about endometriosis pain or the IVF protocol is difficult. Announcing a cancer diagnosis is dangerous. The National Cancer Institute reminds that five years after the diagnosis of the disease (all forms combined), one in five people has lost their job (2018 figures). This time, women and men are equally affected.
Virginia Giraud is a historian and author who was 38 years old when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. However, in early 2022, he embarks on a decisive hiring process.At the heart of the story, in Europe 1 and responsible for writing and hosting this daily podcast. When to talk to your interlocutors? Naming your cancer means taking a risk. So he keeps quiet at first (the law does not require him to inform his employer). As long as possible, he performs work and treatment, surgery. A year has passed. A young woman is speaking out today to share her experience of the disease, a double mastectomy (breast removal) with immediate reconstruction and her recovery. And his work life, which didn’t get in the way, led him to the success of his podcast, which is now available as a weekend show (Saturdays and Sundays at 3pm). Breast cancer affects one in eight women, 10% of patients are under the age of 40, and the five-year survival rate is 88% (source Institut Curie). Virginie Giraud – who collaborates Madame Figaro With a chronicle of the great innovators of history – addressed to all those who, like him, may fear losing their jobs, their wages, not being able to be present as before, seeing their professional projects in jeopardy. . Every cancer is different, every patient is unique. Companies’ response to support this case is as much a challenge as it is a responsibility. Take a break, take a long one if necessary, stay at work, organize your professional life… Without lecturing, Virginia Girod tells her life experience with one conviction: help break the cancer taboo in the workplace.
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Madame Figaro. – How did you find out you had breast cancer?
Virginia Giraud. –In February 2022, Europe 1 approached me looking for a new incarnation of the History podcast. I immediately think that this position is for me. Shortly after my first appointment, one morning I felt a large lump in my breast, thinking it was a simple cyst, I went to my gynecologist. Everything comes together: suspicious mammography, ultrasound examination, biopsy, MRI, the process takes several weeks. Then the oncologist told me. “Looks like a cobra bit you, but we have a serum to heal you.” So here is where I am. I’m going to get my life’s work and I’m fighting for my life to fight for my health. Here, too, the oncologist assures me. “Chemotherapy is not what we told you.” I stick to this sentence. I do the first session, which lasts four hours, with the computer on my lap. It’s different for everyone, for me I seem to tolerate the session and the side effects pretty well.
I was lucky enough to have a double mastectomy with immediate reconstruction. Surgeons in France do it very well, you should know this
Virginia Giraud
Are you not informing your potential employer?
I’ve been conducting text writing and microphone tests for three months. I’m not saying anything, no. Because I think that if I speak, they won’t hire me. I have a final agreement from Europe 1 at the end of May 2022. I arrange to do myself my last chemo session. One Monday in June, for a photo shoot, I don’t have eyelashes anymore, because I can put on makeup, no one notices. And then, faced with an aggressive tumor, HER2+ breast cancer, I opted for a double mastectomy scheduled for mid-July to prevent recurrence. I talk to my employers about the surgery, nothing more. My producer had this question when I came back. “Can I ask you what you had the surgery for?” I remain uncertain. My contract is signed for one year. I don’t risk losing it anymore. But with radiotherapy set to begin, with its daily sessions at the center for five weeks, I can no longer be available all the time, even if my job is done. I’m talking, I can’t hide it anymore.
What feedback are you getting?
Everyone is shocked, but the behavior does not change. Information circulates, I understand that, there are those who are kind and do not question it, those who laugh with me at my own jokes on the subject. In short, nothing.
Why testify today?
First, because I was lucky enough to have a double mastectomy with immediate reconstruction. Surgeons in France do it very well, you should know this. You sleep and wake up with new breasts. “Flat”, without a chest, as they say, the trauma is over. It is a fundamental change for women to no longer live with this sense of amputation. And then, I want to say to those who want to continue working during the treatment: be careful, it is not an obligation. – it is possible. Adjusting your life a little. I want to share this word of hope. Breast cancer is not an obstacle to work or life.
Now I know that everything I feel is a bonus. Little worries don’t bother me anymore
Virginia Giraud
What has changed for you?
I am a historian, so I deal with the dead. But now I know that everything I feel is a bonus. Little worries don’t bother me anymore. I came out stronger, bigger or calmer. For a younger generation that is better groomed than yesterday, putting them on the sidelines of their jobs will be a double whammy for many. It’s amazing in the chemistry room, the youngest women come and go, with a haughty attitude, they are queens.
Only once, on Instagram, a year ago, did you mention your cancer…
Yes, on October 19, 2022 (with this text “It’s been three months today since I had breast cancer surgery after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. I have been cured. I don’t want to hide what happened to me anymore. It’s not even about being ashamed of it,” Editor’s note) Today, one year after consolidating my recovery, I wanted to speak up. Then I will close this chapter.
No less than 25% of men leave their partner when she has cancer. What cowards!
Virginia Giraud
You live a family life with a partner, a child. Would you like to talk about it?
Do you know this statistic? No less than 25% of men leave their partner when she has cancer. What cowards! My partner never looked at me like a sick woman. Having this opportunity is incredibly expensive. I would like to tell men that their support is essential to overcome this strange ordeal.
If you had to do it over again, would you do it differently?
Maybe I speak with the inevitability of a historian, but I wouldn’t change anything. At the time, I just missed the testimonies of women for whom the treatments, however difficult, were not daily hell. I want to say to those who are about to start their protocol that they will certainly be able to live and work normally, with good organization, hoping that their employers will show a little flexibility. May our dreams not be dissolved by chemistry, and may our femininity not be angered. If I can ease the anxiety of even one woman who reads this article, then my testimony will have served a purpose.
* An overview of women’s intimate health at work, By My S Life and Verspieren.
Also read the Senate report on women’s health in the workplace, June 2023.
Virginie Giraud is the author of the podcast At the heart of the story and host of Europe 1.
Source: Le Figaro
