Nathalie Koenders gave this long interview to Vincent Thollet and Amélie Douay.
Vincent Thollet: Hello Nathalie Koenders. How are you?
Nathalie Koenders: I’m fine. The difficult episode I went through in recent weeks is behind me and I am happy to have resumed my activities in Dijon serving the Dijonnaises and the Dijonnais. The operation I had 3 weeks ago now allowed me to avoid other heavier treatments, such as radiotherapy or chemotherapy. In agreement with the healthcare team, I can start again this week, but gradually.
Why was it so important for you to come back to the field in this way?
I was keen to find the Dijon and Dijon, the mayor of Dijon and his municipal team who supported me a lot. I had many messages from residents, the mayor, the municipal team. It was very important and therefore I wanted to get back to their side, especially in the face of the crisis we are going through. There are a lot of people who are suffering at the moment, poor families, but also restaurateurs and cafetiers. I wanted, along with my colleagues, to help make this difficult period the least complicated for them.
It’s very short 3 weeks after the operation, you would say that the work also has a therapeutic function for you, it was important to come back also for this reason?
To move forward, yes, that’s for sure. Resuming a professional activity where municipal was also important for me. As you say, I think that’s part of the therapy as well. We also feel useful for others. At the moment, it’s a very complicated period, especially for the most modest, in terms of their health, at the social level, at the financial level, and I think that it is important that the municipal team, with its mayor and all of his assistants are available to help the Dijonnaises.
You chose a form of transparency a month ago by saying that you were suffering from cancer? Why this choice?
So it was not easy. Already learning about this disease and then saying it publicly. I did it first by transparency, because as an elected official, I had to tell the truth. I was going, for a while, to be less present in the field, to be less present in the authorities, in the municipal council, in the departmental council. I had to explain the reasons. And the second thing: I also wanted to send a message of hope to women, especially to tell them that … Well, breast cancer can be treated and cured, if it is detected in time. I wanted to tell them to be very attentive to their regular check-ups, because that is how my cancer was detected early.
It is very short 3 weeks after the operation, you would say that labor also has a therapeutic function for you it was important to come back also for this reason?
To move forward, yes, that’s for sure. Resuming a professional activity where municipal was also important for me. As you say, I think that’s part of the therapy as well. We also feel useful for others. At the moment, it is a very complicated period, especially for the most modest, in terms of their health, at the social level, at the financial level, and I think that it is important that the municipal team with its mayor and the All of his assistants are available to help the Dijonnaises.
Is your desire to break a taboo?
Look, it’s never easy to talk about it. It touches the intimate. I realized that many women confided in me, said ‘thank you’, ‘thank you for talking about it’, because today, breast cancer and cancer in general, it can be a taboo. They also brought me their testimonies. It helped me a lot to read what well-known and lesser-known women went through. I said to myself, if my experience as a first assistant, as an elected official can also help other women, it is important. So that’s also why I did it. I was lucky to have a lot of support. But I also think of women who go through it alone. It’s very difficult. Morally, it is a complicated ordeal. And I also think of them today.
The idea is to demystify cancer in a way, make it less scary? What are you hoping for?
Maybe show that when you’re young or not so young, when you’re a former athlete and still athletic, when you have an activity, that can also happen to us. It happens to everyone. I had the opportunity to read testimonials from women much younger than me, at 20, 25 years old who also went through this ordeal. It must be said, whatever the age, be careful! Pay attention and think about your regular checks, especially during this period. I know, from having spoken with the healthcare teams, that the first confinement was terrible in terms of prevention. Many people have canceled or postponed their regular check-ups. And when we postpone by six months, by a year, it is six months, a year that we lose vis-à-vis a disease which can, when detected in time, be cured. And we can be cured of it.
I realized that for some people, it was difficult to talk about it. We were talking about a long illness. But it is a disease like any other that can be treated, which is cured when it is detected in time. So we must not be afraid to go for regular checks and medical examinations.
I go back a few weeks. How did you find out you had cancer? How did it happen ?
So, I have, in quotes, luck in this bad luck. Having a family history, since my mom, my grandmother died quite young from breast cancer, I was followed very regularly. It is therefore during a regular check-up that a small tumor was detected. A malignant tumor.
This announcement, of course, is complicated, it’s scary. But the fact that it was detected early, this made it possible to initiate treatment quickly and therefore to quickly remove and eradicate this tumor.
What is going on in your head at the time of the announcement?
It is astonishment. It is like the sky that falls on your head. We necessarily think of his family. We worry. We ask ourselves a lot of questions. I had the chance to be accompanied and I really want to pay a great tribute to the medical team, to the caregivers. They have flawless professionalism in these difficult times. Quickly, my athletic spirit may have taken over. I projected myself into healing in treatment. The fact that the diagnosis was early made things easier.
And suddenly, which medical option did you choose?
With the medical team, I opted for an operation to eradicate this cancer. The advantage is that it prevents me from other heavier treatments and it greatly reduces the risk of recurrence. If I had opted for another option, I would have needed much more regular checks afterwards. So I will of course continue these checks. But it is true that the operation is not an easy choice and I can imagine that some women do not take this option. But this operation allows the tumor to be quickly eradicated.
You say it is an option which is not easy. You say you want to testify in a way for other women. How do you feel like a woman after breast surgery?
I think medical advances have evolved. Now, we are able to do things that allow women to keep their femininity. Now, as I told you, I have had a lot of support from my family. It is important. By my children, by my spouse and by the medical staff. It helps to make that decision.
You talk about it like it’s behind you. While it is very recent. A lot has happened in 3 weeks …
Yes indeed. I had the operation, I had my recovery period, I am still there, but now I see it as a memory behind me, which I will not forget. But I moved on. I am resuming my municipal activities. It is to project oneself forward. It is helping others … It is knowing what is also essential in life, it is health, it is the family. And then it is to help those who do not have the same chances as you to advance.
Would you say that the disease has changed or could something change in you?
Yes, it is undeniable. Of course there is a before and an after. It is a difficult ordeal that we go through with doubts, with a certain anguish, questions, even if we quickly have answers to our questions. It’s a little early to know what the changes will be. But inevitably, that changes. It changes people.
What do you think you’ve discovered about yourself?
I am a rather modest person in my private life, etc. To have announced it publicly, to grant you this interview, it is not necessarily easy. Maybe this is something I would never have thought of before. But I said to myself, if it can serve the cause, let’s do it!
Can this change something in your political action, change your priorities?
It’s possible … Empathy, I already had it I think. But I think it will develop. Perhaps also take height on certain subjects, in particular in matters of health. We see with the health crisis that we are going through that the hospital, the nursing teams are doing a tremendous job. I hope that we will not only pay homage to them now, that then we will not forget, that we will not move on. I really hope that they will be given the necessary means to do their job well. In any case, as an elected official, I will be very vigilant.
You act at the local level. You spoke of benevolence. Does that also make sense in your opinion?
When you are elected locally, there are two fascinating things for me. We must improve people’s daily lives and at the same time have a vision for our city. You have to love people to play politics at the local level. Maybe the feeling, but it’s not just a feeling, the fact that I also have a lot of affection from the Dijonnaises and the Dijonnais and in return I will give them even more to try to improve their daily life.
How do you expect women to experience cancer tomorrow? Something needs to change?
Well, let it not be a taboo. That they can not shut themselves up – maybe some women do – because it is important in a cure, that they can do their treatment as serenely as possible, by accepting this treatment and keeping their femininity.
Much progress has been made in recent years, thanks in particular to all the prevention campaigns, “Pink October”, races as an odyssey. But I think there are still things to do. I saw him on the occasion of this disease where people did not dare to tell me about it. There is always communication to be done on the subject. If my little experience can help. Well, I would be delighted. Not for me, but for other women.
–
