Charcot’s disease: it will cross the Atlantic in 6 weeks

Jean d’Artigues is about to set sail. Entrepreneur in Morbihan and suffering from Charcot’s disease, the man is very passionate about the sea. “From the age of 10-12, I was lucky to be able to sail regularly”, confides he in an interview with Parisian. And it is certainly not his handicap that will prevent him from embarking this Saturday for a six-week Atlantic crossing on a sailboat towards Guadeloupe, with a stopover in Martinique.

“Even when you are disabled, you have the right to have dreams”

Five years ago, Jean d’Artigues learned that he had Charcot’s disease, also called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The pathology causes progressive degeneration of certain neurons in the cerebral cortex. But there is no question for him to abandon his childhood dream: “Even when we are disabled, we have the right to have dreams,” recalls the latter.

Last July, the man launched his project which he called – not without a certain humor – “Transat in an armchair”. Supported by the navigator Marc Guillemot, the project collected 56,000 euros in the space of two months. Today, the dream of Jean d’Artigues is finally realized. The starting signal will be given this Saturday at 3 p.m. The sailboat has been fitted out to allow Jean D’artigues to navigate in the best conditions: joystick to control the helm and engine, and removable berth to facilitate transfer to his chair.

Jean d’Artigues is not the first patient suffering from Charcot’s disease to embark on what he himself calls “a sweet madness”. Last May, Gilles Houbart left his hometown of Bellentre (Savoie) in an electric wheelchair. Its objective: to travel in an electric wheelchair the 788 kilometers that separate it from Paris, with the Ministry of Health as the point of arrival. Gilles Boullard’s approach was mainly aimed at making citizens and public authorities aware of this disease.

Ice Bucket Challenge & Lion Challenge

On the web, awareness of Charcot’s disease has also left its mark. We especially remember “The Ice Bucket Challenge”, a challenge that consisted of pouring a bucket of ice water over your head and making a donation for research. It went viral in 2014 when Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg took part in the game. Millions of euros were raised thanks to this challenge, although many people did not know its real purpose!

More recently, a new challenge has emerged: the “Lion Challenge”. Nathalie Pentito and her companion Karim, who contracted the disease in 2015, launched it in 2015 in partnership with the SLA League, a Belgian association helping patients with this disease. The concept is the same as the Ice Bucket: film yourself, nominate someone and make a donation. This time, no bucket of ice water on the head, but lion’s whiskers drawn on the face, the people and an ALS League slogan: “Fight like a lion against Charcot’s disease” Participants must pronounce it loud and clear… before roaring!