Antoine was born suffering from a form of obesity of genetic origin which very quickly put his life in danger. Since his birth, Antoine feels different, constantly watched. He is an obese child, who gains an average of ten kilos each year. At 16, he already weighs 160 kilos.

An incessant desire to eat

Antoine is constantly hungry, but no one knows why, not even the many doctors consulted from an early age. Behind his smile hides a deep discomfort.

“I hated myself,” he explains, “I couldn’t stand looking at myself in the mirror and it’s still very hard today. But when I see this photo, it hurts a lot. I was fat and I couldn’t even climb a floor at the time. “

First placement of a gastric band

Everything is in place to try to overcome this obesity, with stays in a weight loss center, the installation of gastric rings. He is the first minor to be tested for a gastric band. Antoine loses weight, regains it, but still feels hungry. It reaches almost 200 kilos.

At 18, he learned that he was suffering from a genetic disease.

“I lost 10 kilos of guilt, he admits in the following month, because I knew it was not my fault. I had officially heard it from a doctor…”

Finally a diagnosis!

After years of research on obesity, Prof. Karine Clément succeeds in identifying the genetic anomaly from which Antoine suffers. It was in 1998: “We found, twenty years ago already that fatty tissue is not just a bag that fills with fat. It is a real tissue, an endocrine gland that will speak with the other organs of the body. , including the brain.

In Antoine, there is a mutation in a gene which is the leptin receptor which means that communication between fatty tissue and the brain does not take place well and therefore the weight is not regulated, it is the reason he was hungry all the time, gained weight very early, very quickly eventually almost from birth. “

Then we had to find a cure, another way for the fatty tissue and the brain to communicate.

Saved thanks to an innovative treatment

Since 2018, Antoine has been part of a research protocol. Every morning the day begins with the same ritual.

The injection he gets every day has still caused side effects such as suicidal thoughts or change in skin color. But in view of the result, Antoine accepts them.

“I lost about twenty pounds thanks to the treatment, he explains. There is still a lot to lose. But already I have the impression of having found a somewhat normal life and fortunately he is there for that the weight does not rise “.

A renaissance thanks to medical research

Thanks to this treatment, Antoine now knows when he is no longer hungry. In addition to this injection, twice a week, he goes to the physiotherapist. He lacks muscle strength and suffers from joint pain, the direct consequences of his overweight.

At 18, the doctors only gave him a few months to live, today Antoine captures the present moment, to try to forget the many memories of this painful childhood, and keep only one thing in mind: his Renaissance.

To support research

We owe these therapeutic advances to excellent researchers and they are possible in large part thanks to the funding of their research projects and therefore to the generosity of donors.

For more than 70 years, the Foundation for Medical Research (FRM) fights for life and annually funds more than 400 new research projects on all diseases.

You too at home can support research with a simple SMS, a text message. You can donate 10 euros. To do this, you just need:

• TO REGISTER 92,300 as the addressee (ninety-two three hundred).
• TYPE DON (3 letters, it is written DON, all attached, in upper or lower case).
• Send the message.