• On the eve of the national days of the Red Cross, from 3 to 11 June, where volunteers are mobilized to collect donations, 20 Minutes met a wonderful family.
  • Marie, Didier and their daughter Marine are all first aiders at the Red Cross.
  • The missions alternate from the most joyful, the final of the 1998 World Cup, to the most dramatic, the attack on the Bataclan in 2015.

Volunteering as a common thread in their family history. Marie, Didier and their daughter Marine are all first aiders at the Red Cross. A commitment that has become a passion over time. "It's rare that, during a meal, we don't talk about the association. Even if it means annoying our other two daughters, who are not volunteers," says Marie with a smile.

For Didier, the adventure began thirty-two years ago. "I trained in first aid at the Red Cross. And it was a revelation, I immediately wanted to get involved, "he says. Two years later, Marie followed suit, because she needed first aid training to lead a camp as a scout leader: "I was 19, Denis 24, and it was love at first sight. We made a guard together, we had a drink afterwards, to never leave each other afterwards. And I joined Didier at the local unit in Vaucresson, because it was obvious to get involved." Thirty years later, their love story still lasts, and what they live as volunteers helps to cement their couple: "It's a source of sharing and exchange," comments Didier modestly.

Didier intervened at the Bataclan

Even if their professional lives are busy, Didier being legal manager in an insurance company and Marie, medical secretary, each of them devotes a good part of his free time to the association. Didier even assumed the responsibility of president of the local unit for nine years. Marie never took an associative break, even when she was pregnant. And she chained the positions at the association, being in turn deputy local director of the Vaucresson unit, secretary and vice-president of the antenna...

To preserve the family balance, Didier devotes himself to his rescue missions rather during the week and Marie, on weekends. And if they are called in as reinforcements and some missions present risks, the couple takes care not to participate together. Like the evening of November 13, 2015. "I intervened at the Bataclan, but Marie stayed at home. I rescued wounded people in a restaurant near the concert hall, where they had been repatriated. These are images that remain," says Didier. But not all missions are so dramatic: "I remember the 1998 World Cup final. We were at the Stade de France, the fans were kissing us. It was very joyful and it did not castrate, so we did not have to manage very heavy cases, "says Marie.

"Volunteering is the school of life"

Being both volunteers also allows them to understand each other's constraints: "We will not complain when the other comes home late, because we know that on-call hours are extendable. We can debrief our interventions together and review our first aid knowledge together," says Marie.

Their humanist values, their desire to help others, Marie and Didier passed on to their three daughters. "We're a Red Cross family," says Marie. Our three daughters, we brought them with us to training, food drives in supermarkets. And since they were little, they know all the volunteers who work with us," says Marie. No wonder they gave the taste of commitment to Marine, 20 years old. "I had the click on the evening of November 13, 2015. I was 12 at the time, but I was frustrated that I couldn't help. So as soon as I was old enough, 16, I trained in first aid and became a volunteer," she says. Missions that are complementary to the nursing studies she follows. "It fills my need to feel useful. And volunteering is the school of life," she says.

"We are a very close-knit team"

When she is on guard, Marine sometimes finds herself with one of her parents: "We are called by the Samu to visit people who experience chest pain, have made discomfort, have a suspicion of stroke ... Before they are treated in the hospital if necessary," she says. Small frustration: volunteers do not usually know what happens to the people they have accompanied: "We sometimes receive a letter afterwards, but it is very rare," explains the girl.

Sometimes, too, rescuers arrive too late. "I remember one person whose heart didn't go back after a stop. It's necessarily significant, but we always have psychological support after difficult interventions," says Marine. And back home, the girl has four ears available to listen to her: "We are a very close-knit team," she says. We had noticed.

This Saturday, Adriana Karembeu, ambassador of the association, accompanied by Philippe Da Costa, president of the French Red Cross, will launch the week of quest (until June 11), Paris, Nelson-Mandela Garden at 10:00. Then they will go to Lille, Place du Théâtre at 15:30.

  • Red Cross
  • Association
  • Society
  • Volunteering
  • Ile
  • Paris