{"id":5057,"date":"2025-10-09T15:30:57","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T19:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fhclm.ca\/passez-a-laction\/des-gens-de-coeur\/more-beauty-more-courage\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T14:29:44","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T18:29:44","slug":"more-beauty-more-courage","status":"publish","type":"gens-de-coeur","link":"https:\/\/fhclm.ca\/en\/take-action\/people-of-heart\/more-beauty-more-courage\/","title":{"rendered":"+ beauty, + courage"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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When he was told he had prostate cancer, Fran\u00e7ois Leclerc couldn\u2019t believe it<\/strong>. No symptoms. Nothing visible. Just an abnormal number in his blood work. He was hit hard by the diagnosis.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\tI was totally crushed. It destroyed me mentally.\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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But very soon, he was in the care of the team of the Centre int\u00e9gr\u00e9 de canc\u00e9rologie de la Mont\u00e9r\u00e9gie Montbretia at H\u00f4pital Charles-Le Moyne. That\u2019s when he was overcome by emotion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was treated like a king. At each step, I felt their deep commitment to cure me.\u201d<\/p>\n

What he remembers most: the day Dr. Wakil<\/strong>, his oncologist, held out his hand and said:<\/p>\n

\u201cI know exactly what to do to cure you.\u201d
A statement that warmed his heart, brought relief and, especially, brought comfort<\/strong>. Two years later, he was able to say thank you\u2026 and give him a hug.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Every day during his treatment, Fran\u00e7ois, dressed in his gown, would look out the two windows in the waiting room.<\/p>\n

What did he see?<\/p>\n

\u201cA black hole. Ugliness. A view that looked like death.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when he got the idea to do something about it.
Create beauty. Offer hope. Leave a mark.<\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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In summer 2024, his plan came to fruition: to transform two vacant outdoor spaces<\/strong> into something soothing, luminous and meaningful.<\/p>\n

Spaces designed for patients. But also for the Hospital teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cPatients see COURAGE and HOPEESPOIR (hope).<\/p>\n

Staff sees GRATITUDEMERCI. It was important to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every detail was well thought out:
Stainless steel<\/strong> for permanence.
A neutral colour<\/strong>, to represent all the different forms of cancer.
Durable, simple and noble materials.
A laser-cut cancer ribbon set on a metal structure<\/strong>, which he created himself in his workshop.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\"francois-leclerc-cancer-travail2\"<\/figure><\/div>
\"francois-leclerc-cancer-travail3\"<\/figure><\/div>
\"francois-leclerc-cancer-travail\"<\/figure><\/div>
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Now in remission, Fran\u00e7ois returns every month to maintain his installations.<\/p>\n

And he\u2019s mandated his loved ones to pursue his commitment after he\u2019s gone<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s my legacy. My challenge. The medical team found a way to cure me. And I found a way to provide a little beauty. And <\/i> time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fran\u00e7ois, his loved ones and his colleagues all worked together on this project.<\/p>\n

See how these spaces were created in\u00a0a video<\/a>\u00a0by Fran\u00e7ois.<\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In summer 2024, his plan came to fruition: to transform two vacant outdoor spaces into something soothing, luminous and meaningful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":5060,"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-5057","gens-de-coeur","type-gens-de-coeur","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fhclm.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/gens-de-coeur\/5057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fhclm.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/gens-de-coeur"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fhclm.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/gens-de-coeur"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fhclm.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/gens-de-coeur\/5057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fhclm.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fhclm.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}