Aged 81, Olivier de Kersauson reveals he has a new cancer

After a few months of absence on the airwaves of Grosses Têtes, Olivier de Kersauson gave his news this Friday morning on RTL. And the least we can say is that the sailor has lost none of his legendary outspokenness. Installed between Brittany and Polynesia, the octogenarian revealed that he was facing a health problem, the disease having invaded another part of his body. The man who overcame lung cancer diagnosed in 2017 is no longer in remission but is faced with a new form of cancer. Very grateful to the effectiveness of medicine, he much prefers to see the glass half full and exclaimed with his usual humor: “Twenty years ago I would have been dead a long time ago.”

Olivier de Kersauson reveals he has a new cancer

Indeed, the great friend of Laurent Ruquier is now fighting esophageal cancer. However, the former winner of the Jules-Verne Trophy stays the course and refuses to brood. Supported by his partner Sandra, he wants to put things into perspective by reminding us that he shares this daily fight with hundreds of thousands of French people. For him, there is no question of making a melodrama of this relapse which he approaches with total serenity. True to himself and without any taboo, he described the evolution of his medical situation with a crude formula of which he has the secret: “I have changed cancer. I have a cancerous system that goes around my body.”

Olivier de Kersauson is filled with hope at almost 82 years old

The star columnist of Grosses Têtes keeps his feet on the ground and fully assumes his age in front of Thomas Sotto’s microphone. When the host is surprised to see him speak so freely about death, the Admiral replies with that piquant pragmatism that listeners love so much. For him, there is no point in hiding his face, because “Cancer, in general, does not herald a happy Christmas”. Between his Monday appointments at the Tahiti hospital and his medical stops in mainland France, Olivier de Kersauson continues to lead his boat with admirable courage and a good dose of self-deprecation which commands respect.