Olivier Roy Bouchard was doing well when he contracted flesh-eating bacteria just under a year ago. An event suddenly changed the life of the inhabitant of Saint-Honoré by awakening the “rage for life” in him. The latter will take him to the 15km run of the Pichous on Saturday in Jonquière.
In April 2023, Olivier Roy Bouchard had just undergone hip surgery due to a hernia. After the operation went off without a hitch, he returned home convinced that his time under the knife was over. But that was before group A streptococcus infiltrated his wound for a reason that remains unknown to this day.
I woke up at night feeling like I was going to throw up. I couldn't get to the bathroom. I ended up on my bathroom floor. Fortunately, I took my phone with me when I woke up. He let me call 911, and then I ended up in the hospital
He says.
The sequence of events remains ambiguous, like the memory of a nightmare. My last memory is of falling asleep to the words of the surgeon who told me that she suspected flesh-eating bacteria in my groin area. I was told I would have to have emergency surgery to remove whatever was attacked.
I could lose my reproductive organs, I could lose my legs.
It was entirely possible that he would never see the light of day again.
He was in a coma for a week while undergoing multiple operations. When he woke up, more surgeries were waiting for him.
Lucky in his bad luck
I was lucky in my misfortune. It attacked my skin, my fascia, but I didn't suffer any after effects
Today, Olivier Roy Bouchard confesses in front of a microphone Public place.
To utter this sentence, the father of three children accumulated sports training, physical therapy sessions, in addition to many psychotherapy meetings. He was very active before the disease, which, according to his doctors, allowed him to survive, fighting it with endurance.
When I woke up from the coma I lost more than 50% of my strength and muscle mass because the muscles atrophy very quickly. I couldn't lift the spoon, and I couldn't eat. I was barely able to raise my hand
he remembers.
Starting line for the Pecos 15km last year. (archive photo)
Photo: Radio-Canada/Ruby St-Gillet
Despite persistent knee pain after excessive exercise in recent months, he feels ready to run the 15km in Bichos. It was this race, which he set as his goal when he left Chicoutimi Hospital, that allowed him to regain his energy.
An almost pathological desire to move
Olivier Roy Bouchard admits he wants to move Almost sick
Since his medical saga. He recognizes his inexhaustible need to enjoy life It's hard to describe
This is it Like getting angry in order to live, and rearranging priorities in life
.
Among these matters is taking care of her three children. What he would have found sadder, if he had died on the operating table, would have left them without a father at a critical age.
When asked what a runner would think after crossing the start line in Jonquière, he took a moment to hold back tears.
I will look at the landscape and smile
He said.
With information from Catherine Doucet
“Music guru. Incurable web practitioner. Thinker. Lifelong zombie junkie. Tv buff. Typical organizer. Evil beer scholar.”
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