Cervical Cancer Thriver

In 2012, at the age of 35, Marilou was diagnosed with cervical cancer, caused by HPV 16. Since the cancer metastasized in 2015, she is now considered incurable. A trained librarian, Marilou understood early on the importance of learning about the disease and the different treatments available to be able to collaborate with her medical team in making decisions. Having understood the various issues related to medical advances, new technologies, and the participation of patients in clinical trials, Marilou is involved, despite the side effects of the many treatments received, to defend the interests of patients with HPV-related cancers.

Marilou has always tried to remain realistic, but positive about her disease. Thanks to research (immunotherapy, targeted therapies, use of big data, etc.), she believes that cancer will become a chronic disease in the coming years.

An open-source specialist, she defends the scientific method, the use of evidence, and the fight against pseudoscience.

Now suffering from chronic fatigue, Marilou hopes to raise awareness of the different side effects caused by treatments for HPV-related cancers. Exhaustion, anxiety, loss of fertility, early menopause, reduction of 1/3 of her vagina, she has to deal with this new reality which is unfortunately little known to the general public. Indeed, HPV-related female cancers (cancers of the cervix, vagina, vulva) get much fewer media attention than other cancers that affect women. And yet …

Marilou is passionate about travel, knowledge, culture, art, science, everything!