With frankness and humor, François addresses very serious subjects without ever losing his smile. He shares his doubts, his questions, and his fight, mixing poignant memories and quirky anecdotes. This is a story about resilience, the power of sport, and finding a new path after life takes an unexpected turn.
An Instant That Changes Everything
François was working in Thonon-les-Bains when he suffered a fall at a laundry factory. While working at Blanchisserie Moderne, an accident altered the course of his life. Hanging onto a rail at a height of approximately 6 meters (nearly 20 feet), the ladder gave way. A colleague managed to drop sacks of dirty laundry to cushion his fall. “I fell straight on my feet like a cat,” François explains, quickly adding, “but I’m not a cat.” The diagnosis was severe: the first lumbar vertebra had “exploded,” and the spinal cord was affected, along with a medullary lesion at the third lumbar vertebra.
“I am an incomplete paraplegic,” François explains. The quadriceps function, but sensation below the kneecap diminishes until there is nothing felt. He adds, “I can burn myself, someone can roll over me, and I will never feel pain,” before lightly adding, “I could have become a fakir.”
Humor, although, isn’t François’s only “superpower.” He is an example of determination. A competitor and athlete, sport helped him face this ordeal, and today, he excels in parabadminton.
Reconstruction Through Sport
Before his accident, François was an incorrigible sportsman, practicing hiking, football, handball, and even trying fencing and badminton. Always insatiable and curious, his passion for sport and self-improvement drove him. After three weeks of hospitalization and a titanium prosthesis replacing his L1 vertebra, it was time to begin rehabilitation. He entered a center in Saint-Hilaire-du-Touvet, near Grenoble.
Still recognizing today the “fantastic work” of the caregivers, both physically and psychologically, he adapted to this new body, until the day his physiotherapist, a badminton player herself, suggested he take up the racket and shuttlecock again – but this time in a wheelchair.
“It was a super door to be reborn.” François
For François, engagement in sport isn’t a constraint; his competitive spirit allows him to move forward and “be reborn,” as he likes to say.
Globetrotting in Parabadminton
Facing a job that wasn’t suited to his condition, he felt like “obstacles were being put in his way,” he confides with a mischievous smile. He resigned to “enjoy a little of my free time,” he explains. Far from wanting to laze around, he embarked on a new adventure that took him beyond the borders of France, dedicating himself intensively to badminton and participating in numerous tournaments around the world.
For a year, he joined the French parabadminton team, allowing him to represent France in several international competitions, including in Germany, England, and Beijing, China. After a season, the adventure with the French Badminton Federation ended, but François didn’t stop there and continued to participate in international tournaments: Norway, Scotland, Poland, and more.
From his travels, he brought back medals, such as the silver medal won at the European Championships in Murcia (Spain) in 2014, in his disability category, as well as unforgettable memories.
“I have been 5 times French champion and once European vice-champion in Murcia, Spain.” François.
Disability Put to the Test
“As soon as I stopped working at the laundry, I took my car and went to Poland,” he recounts, evoking the require to depart and reconnect with friends who remained there. Today, with his converted van, he is autonomous and travels the roads. In September, he went to Portugal alone, contacting a local club “to go hit some shuttlecocks,” he says.
“I combine the pleasure of tourism and sport at the same time.”
In each of these journeys, it’s not just sport that drives him to take the road; it’s discovery and curiosity. Even when faced with uncomfortable situations, it doesn’t stop him. “I combine the pleasure of tourism and sport at the same time,” he confides.
He recalls his trip to Bangkok: “Accessibility in that country is a horror,” he admits before recounting, “I was on a sidewalk in the center of Bangkok, a 30 cm (approximately 12 inches) high sidewalk. I walked a few hundred meters and suddenly, there was a tree in the middle of the sidewalk. I had to go back, receive off the sidewalk, and take the road.” A comical situation that remains a “good memory despite everything.”
Sport One Day, Sport Forever
Badminton still holds an important place in his life, and he continues to train at the Badminton Club de l’Emblavez (BCE43) in Lavoûte-sur-Loire with “able-bodied” players. However, the pace is less intense than before. “I used to have training almost every night,” he explains, the repeated effort eventually weighing on his shoulders.
Recently, he has been unfaithful to parabadminton, replacing the shuttlecock with a basketball. Le Puy, known for its wheelchair basketball team, seduced him, and once a week, he participates in training sessions. “I’ve only made one basket,” he confides with a smile. In a wheelchair, the exercise is demanding, relying entirely on the strength of the arms, with a basket just as high. But true to his spirit, François remains persevering.
Today, François continues to explore, play, and inspire, proving that even the most difficult trials can lead to the greatest victories. His story is a testament to the transformative power of sport and the indomitable human spirit.
