At 27, Julie Briant lives in Maine-et-Loire with her two children Loane and Mathéis, as well as her husband Ludovic. Became a mother at only 17 years old despite an illness which risked preventing her, her life course and her fight against cystic fibrosis inspired a TV movie, broadcast this Tuesday evening at 9:10 p.m. on M6. Directed by Nicolas Cuche (“Les bracelets rouges”) “La vie, l’amour, tout de suite”, in which Anne Marivin plays the role of Julie’s mother, will be followed by a debate and a documentary. Interview with the one who is also hiding behind the Instagram account mamamuco (55.6K subscribers).
How was your childhood as a sick little girl?
My parents discovered that I had cystic fibrosis when I was 8 months old, after several lung infections and bronchiolitis. As a child, it was very complicated. My physio came directly to school, I was teased because the kids said that my medicine looked like birdseed. The disease also had an impact on my schooling: I absolutely wanted to be a firefighter, but when my mother went to find out, we told her “Madam, it will not be possible with mucosa”. I offered policeman but it was the same thing, job too physical. It was a very big disappointment for me.
It is around this time that the film begins. You engage in studies that do not interest you, but you meet Ludovic, your first love, and become pregnant a few months later, at 16…
Somewhere it was wanted, even if I didn’t think it would happen so quickly! When I found out, I immediately wondered how we were going to tell our parents. We knew that their reaction was going to be violent, that’s why we decided to wait until the legal deadline for abortion had passed to tell them. At that time, I was in denial about the disease, for me I was like a guinea pig on whom we were testing treatments. With hindsight, this pregnancy, even if it was not recommended, was a revenge on the disease. To show that even if I’m sick, even if I’m fragile, I can have the same life as others, and accomplish lots of beautiful things.
In the fiction, we see your state of health deteriorating at this time. Is that what happened?
Yes, even though I didn’t fall into a coma like in the movie, pregnancy was the trigger for my illness. Before, I was doing quite well but then the mucosa woke up and since then she hasn’t let go of me. It was a big slap in the face, but on the other hand, I’m lucky to have a family around me, which is super important to always see the glass half full. With Ludo, we did everything very quickly: we got married at 20, we had our second child at 22 and bought our house at 23. We don’t know what could happen. Now all you have to do is enjoy.
How do you reconcile your life as a mother and as a sick person?
I can’t have a professional activity, and at home it’s complicated, for example to do the housework or take care of my children. If you have to run after them to hide and seek, it’s not possible. Carry my son’s cozy, I’ve never been able to because it’s much too heavy… The problem is that I get tired and out of breath very very quickly, I have lung problems and now a little heart, I have to see my physio three times a week. So I created my Instagram account mamamuco, my diary and my hobby. I live as I go, with projects like everyone else, but I don’t project myself too far. The next deadline is in April: I have an appointment at the Nantes University Hospital to discuss the possibility of a transplant.
What message do you want to convey via this Insta account and this film, which is in fact the adaptation of your book, released in 2020?
You have to have hope. There is the Kaftrio which has arrived, solutions are being found, there are associations which are there. I want to tell parents that they have to protect their children of course, but that they shouldn’t put up too many barriers either. You have to let them enjoy. Doctors often told me “but no Julie, you shouldn’t do that, it’s not good…” But I never listened to them too much.