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who dreamed of becoming a chef. Teenagers learning about life are and the name of the illness was not
She had cancer and things did not fragile, and you can easily damage mentioned. This issue about cancer
turn out well for her because she is them. There are things that work is no longer taboo. There are maga-
now handicapped. She can walk but and things that do not work. When zine articles, TV programmes, etc.
she cannot stand up for long. The the environment -- the school, the However, children and adolescent
result is that she cannot become a community (not just the family) -- cancer is still something we talk
chef because this is a profession that is involved, it's also very positive in about very little, perhaps for legi-
requires a lot of standing. So this giving them the energy to fight and timate reasons because it is very
cancer destroyed her dreams and move forward. scary. This is a total injustice. Today,
ruined her future. For others it is eight out of ten children recover.
the opposite. Having going through Then, it is also the story of my This is a huge figure compared to a
a difficult experience gives them daughter who suffered from can- few years back. However, the ques-
a rage and a desire to live. One of cer. While at the hospital with her tion we must and should ask is: "Has
them told me: "I know that I'll lose I met other young people whom I the person indeed been cured?"
friends. I know that a lot of negative cared about and I wondered how They have survived but what about
things will happen to me in life. It life had evolved for them. I found it the consequences -- the long-term
will make me sad, but it will never interesting and useful to share their consequences -- for these young
destroy me." experiences with a larger number people? They can end up disabled,
of people. What they say is valuable suffer from cardio-vascular prob-
Q: As Head of Communication and it should be heard; very often lems, become sterile, and endure
at UNCTAD, why have you em- we do not give them the oppor- other problems in their adult life.
barked on such a venture? tunity to express themselves by There are indeed a lot of things to
talking to them. There may be lots look into.
I wanted the public to understand of studies, but they do not let the
what you should do and what you teenagers talk.
should not do. I've realized that you
feel very awkward; you feel help- Q: Do you think we do not talk If you want to learn more about how
less. Both you and the people in enough about cancer? to behave with or talk to persons with
your environment. You would like cancer, read Muriel Scibilia's book.
to do something, but you feel lost. The situation has changed. Today She has generously granted all the
If you read and listen to what these there is quite a lot of talk about can- rights of the book to an association
adolescents say, you can under- cer. A few years ago in France no- conducting cancer research for child-
stand what you can do easily with- body liked to say the word "cancer". ren and adolescents.
out having to be told to do it. These What people said was that a per-
are often small things that can son had died "after a long illness",
make a huge difference to the per-
PUBLICITE
son. One, for instance, told me:
"I do not want anyone talking about IRi\N('AI
ALIiMANI) - i\N(iIAIS - It'AIINN FsI'A(;NJOI. (HINOJ
my illness. What did me the most
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good was when someone came and C- % ')

played video games with me. That
was what I needed there and then."
When someone in your entourage is TUR( Le tour d'une langue en 80 heures
suffering from these problems and Français. Anglais . Allemand. Russe + 33 langues
you are going to pay them a visit -
in hospital, after reading this you SUEDOIS Apprenez une langue en quelques mois!
know a little bit more about what to
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way, you do the young person good.
This is not a huge investment that YZERDUTSCH - Soutien scolaire et remotivation toutes matières:
costs a lot of money; it is a way to
behave -- just being there. Mathématiques'Français 'Allemand .Mglais + toutes langues
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That is one of the aspects. Another
thing is community support, in both Diplôme de Secretariat en 3 a 12 mois
its most narrow and broadest sense.
This means that the way people Premier cours sans engagement
react with teenagers is different.
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