Realisations

July 2024

The Nicolas Gigot Foundation offered financial assistance of +/-10,000 € for the acquisition of equipment for handisports. Following our appeal, we received a number of requests, most of which we honored, and the Nicolas Gigot Foundation offered :

  1. Eight masks for Standard de Liège cecifoot: Cécifoot Standard de Liège | Seraing – Facebook
  2. An HP Velotechnik Scorpion electric trike for the Esneux rehabilitation center : cap2sports.be
  3. Room rental for 6 months at para-karate de Wallonie-Bruxelles: para-karate-wallonie-bruxelles.business.site
  4. Two “Flying Start” racing chairs + racing gloves for the Royal CABW sport adapté de Nivelles : cabw.be

And we’re going to keep going!

April 2024

On April 19, the AETS D’ARE Festival was held at the Athénée d’Esneux, enabling us to raise funds by selling various desserts.

April 2024

Le Petit Théâtre d’Esneux organized performances of the play “Drôles de Couples” in aid of the Nicolas Gigot Foundation!

March 2024

Nadine Brialmont has been nominated in the Liege citizenship category for Liège’s Citizen of the Year, in recognition of her work with the foundation.

January 2024

On January 26, an optical device was donated to the Roger Salengro Hospital in Lille, a moment of particular significance for two reasons. Firstly, Dr. Anne-Frederique Dalmas, a specialist in hyperthermia, practices there (she was the one who guided those in charge at Lyon’s Croix Rousse hospital by telephone when Nicolas was hospitalized there), and also because it was one of our dear friends; Bruno Vliegen, nicknamed “nounours”, who had the honor of handing over the device. His presence added a very special dimension to the event.

December 2023

On December 11, we handed over another Tobii device to the University Hospital of Antwerp (UZA).

November 2023

We made two key donations in November. The first, a Tobii device, was donated to the Chirec hospital in Braine l’Alleud, followed by another donation to the Jessa hospital in Hasselt on November 7.

June 2023

 During the Standard de Chaudfontaine rugby end-of-year festivities, and thanks to the support of the Bois de St Jean committee (via Eric Lhonneux and “Balou”), we managed to sell all our hamburgers to benefit the Nicolas Gigot foundation fund.

June 2023

We organized a solidarity breakfast thanks to Kaneka Eurogentec.

Over 215 breakfast packs were served, helping to fill the kitty!

May 2023

Creation of a video so that everyone can see the frustration that an immobilized patient can feel. Here is the link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhuzES5xUmE

April 2023

On April 15, at the Palais des Princes Evêques in Liège, the foundation was awarded the national medal for encouragement and dedication by the FNED.

April 2023

Hello, thanks to our dessert buffet at the 2023 Are Arts Festival, the prize fund now stands at 13 912,28 € !!!!

We are currently in discussions with various hospitals to donate a tobii machine, and we will also be providing assistance to the Handicap sport.

We’ll keep you posted as soon as possible.

Nadine

March 2023

Hello everyone,
Two Foundation volunteers recently visited Bourg en Bresse and Lyon. Of course, I took part in this little trip, which gave me the chance to see Michelin-starred chef Christian Têtedoie again. It’s true that he’s extraordinary in terms of his gastronomic career: best apprentice at the age of 17, best worker in France in 1996, and since 2011, the supreme title of President of the Master Chefs of France……(you could say so much more …) but it’s above all the human aspect of this rare man that touched me, moved me, even overwhelmed me. Because he’s so sensitive, he’s altruistic (yes, with a capital “A”), he’s a magnificent do-gooder!
This great man was involved in many charitable actions:
– Association Laurette Fugain
– Partnership with the Léon Bérard cancer center
– Sponsor of a charity gala in aid of organ donation
– Association Aidons Marina
– Wonderful help for Clara (creation of a spray: https: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1CyJdXQXrU…)
– Gourmet meals at the handishow
– And so on…
But despite all his obligations, I’m happy to announce that he has agreed to become the godfather of the Nicolas Gigot Foundation (without even having known our wonderful Nicolas) in order to help us raise funds to provide hospitals and the disabled with additional aid.
Christian is an angel to us and he’s going to help us organize a big charity Gala, which I’ll get back to you about.
Thanks to him, but you too can take part and work for the Nicolas Gigot Foundation, so that Nicolas continues to exist through you!
Nadine

February 2023

Three students from L’EGC have kindly donated their profits from the soapbox race they organized on October 8, 2022 in Ceyzériat.

Flavie, Elsa and Ugo (on the right in the photo) organized this successful event as part of their studies at the EGC Centrest Business School, where Nicolas Gigot studied.

They therefore wanted to pay tribute to him and continue to honor his memory by supporting the foundation. We had the opportunity to meet them on Monday, February 20, 2023, and chat with them.

The cheque was presented under the nameplate in the amphitheatre, which bears the name of Nicolas Gigot….which means he’s still with us!

September 2022

Hello, as planned in our projects on the foundation’s website, we have FINALLY donated the handisport chair to Geoffrey Dath (as a reminder, Geoffroy is an able-bodied ex-rugby player who, following an operation that went wrong, found himself a quadriplegic. He joined the La Hulpe rugby club team for the love of rugby).

Many thanks again to all of you for your donations, which allow us to put a smile back on many people’s faces.

Nicolas would be so proud of you!

Nadine

A word from Laurent Poupaert, Rugby Club La Hulpe team coach

I’m the coach of Wallonia’s first and only handirugby team, based at La Hulpe rugby club. It’s not easy enough for an official club to receive subsidies or budgets, but for a club just starting out, and in handisport no less, it’s even more complicated.

We started from scratch, 3 months before the covid, which further disrupted my already weakened team. But we’ve bounced back and now have a loyal core team and tournament offers as far afield as Montpellier.

None of this is possible without the help of people like Nadine. I followed the genesis of the Nicolas Gigot Foundation. Simply because I’d been following Nicolas before all this, and that really touched me. I’m also the father of a rugby player, a year older than Nicolas, who left at the same time for France to develop because these kids had talent.

I appealed to the Foundation because Geoffrey, one of my wheelchair players, is a former “classic” rugby player with a strong rugby frame, and he didn’t fit into the classic chairs. So we needed something tailor-made, with the consequent budget that goes with it.

Nicolas’ mom didn’t hesitate for a second when I called on her, and today Geoffrey can really take part in training sessions in comfort.

The Nicolas Gigot Foundation is important to her, but the existence of this type of structure is also fundamental to the world of disability, and this is what Nicolas would have wanted.

On behalf of the entire La Hulpe handirugby team, and indeed the club, I’d like to thank Nadine for bringing a smile to the faces of anonymous people like Geoffrey, through the donation of a magnificent handirugby chair.

I’d also like to thank you, our donors, because without you, none of this would have been possible.

Thank you, Nadine and especially Nicolas!

August 2022

Nadine enlists the help of her “3 funny ladies” (from left to right: Léa, Shauna and Alix) for the flea market in Esneux, which enabled her to close the budget for the purchase of a handirugby chair.

May 24, 2022

On Tuesday, the late Nicolas’ mother went to the intensive care unit at the CHU in Liège to donate the precious “Tobii”. This software would have been a great help to Nicolas and his family if he had had access to it.

“This device will enable us to communicate more easily with patients who are said to be non-communicative. It will enable us to facilitate communication. It’s very important for our department, which is more neurologically oriented. We collaborate with the coma center. So we regularly receive patients in what is known as a coma state. So it will make our work easier,” explains Gaëlle Tronconi, head nurse in the intensive care unit at Liège University Hospital.

An opportunity

A gift that this department welcomes with open arms. “Since I joined the department, this is the first time we’ve received a donation,” adds the head nurse. “I think it’s important for our day-to-day work. We’re going to have to get used to it, to this new tool. The priority, when we want to assess a patient’s neurological condition, is to be able to communicate with them. This is a great opportunity for our department,” she concludes.

By Laura Salamon Journalist La Meuse

May 2022

The Standard Chaudfontaine Rugby Club has decided to rename the ERY challenge the Nicolas Gigot challenge, with part of the proceeds going to the foundation.

So on May 1st, the Nicolas Gigot challenge took place at the Rochette stadium in Chaudfontaine. This international tournament for youngsters (U6-U8-U10-U12), which Standard Chaudfontaine rugby has been organizing for the past 5 years, is by far the biggest youth tournament organized in Belgium. It welcomes an average of 80 teams, or 1,600 players. This event usually takes place on one day (May 1st). But following the severe flooding in July (not all the infrastructure had yet been repaired), the challenge was limited with the Visé agreement. But president Stephano Bravin and his team were determined that this challenge, however minimalist, should take place in support of the Nicolas Gigot Foundation. In fact, Nicolas’ family is very happy and proud to have this challenge named after him!

Thanks to donations from shopkeepers (from Poulseur, Visé, Embourg, Beaufays, Esneux etc.), we were able to hold a tombola during the May 1st challenge, as well as at the Athénée Royal d’Esneux during the famous AER art festival on May 6.

With these 2 raffles and the generous donation from Standard Chaudfontaine Rugby, we raised a total of €3,130.

(photos by Pierre Renson)

October 2021

Philippe Enjolras, aka Fifel, spent over 48 hours creating a polyptych fresco comprising 12 paintings measuring 3m by 1m50, to be auctioned off for the benefit of 6 associations, including our foundation.

Unfortunately, the bidders didn’t turn up, but Fifel’s kindness “struck again” by allowing our foundation to acquire this work for a derisory price (in relation to its value), so that the 5 other associations wouldn’t go home empty-handed and allow us to resell it afterwards, in order to make a nice capital gain (at least, I hope so).

October 25th publication of Fifel, Philippe Enjolras

“Here’s the mural created during the two days of @hashtagfestival01!”

June 2021

First of all, I’d like to give you an update on the TOBII device donated to Lyon’s Croix Rousse hospital.

The head of the intensive care unit, Docteur Guichon, contacted me in mid-June to tell me that the TOBII was virtually useless now that most patients were in a coma, and that it would therefore be more useful in another department.

I thought directly of the tragedy of the young English rugby player, James Lasis:

(BBC NEWS APRIL 28, 2021)

James Lasis: rugby player on life support after scrum collapse

“James Lasis underwent emergency surgery and is on life support.

The family of a 25-year-old rugby player are flying to France to be at his bedside after suffering serious injuries on the field.

Horsted Keynes’ James Lasis is on life support following surgery for a neck injury sustained while playing for Nice.

His mother Judy Lasis said: “He obviously can’t talk because he has tubes inside him, but he’s fully conscious.

“Communication at the moment is through a wink and he has no movement at the moment.”

So I contacted the Pasteur hospital in Nice, and through Madame Durand Sophie (team manager), and following arrangements between the 2 hospitals, the TOBII arrived in the department of Professor Ichi Carole of the polyvalent intensive care unit at Pasteur II in Nice. This enabled James Lasis to correspond not only with his loved ones, but also with the hospital staff. James has since returned to England to continue his convalescence, but the Tobii continues to help others. It is currently used daily by a 55-year-old man and a 42-year-old woman. Out of respect for their privacy, we won’t give away any information about the reasons for their condition or their current situation, because what matters is that this device enables them to leave this world of silence and correspond with the outside world.

So a big thank you to Doctor Guichon and a speedy recovery to James.

Nevertheless, we haven’t forgotten the kind gesture made by Lyon’s Croix Rousse through Doctor Guichon, and through him we’re going to agree to provide further assistance to this hospital.

September 2020

3 days after Nicolas Gigot’s death, his mother wrote on the Facebook page of “tous ensemble dans la mêlée avec Nicolas” (“all together in the scrum with Nicolas”):

“Hello, I’m Nicolas’s mother, and I’m taking the liberty of writing on this page for the first time, because I really want to thank all the generous donors of the fund:

“In support of Nicolas’ fight

Like you, it’s clear that we would have liked him to benefit from this pot of money…but that’s the way it is and we have to accept it!!!!

I thought a lot about what Nicolas would want in these circumstances…”

And that’s how the foundation was created, and the initial fund doubled.

This quickly enabled the “hôpital de la Croix Rousse” of Lyon to get a Tobii. Thanks to this device the patients can communicate with their eyes without any need to blink, and most of all, it uses more than thirty languages.

This device, valued at +/- €15,000 , is one of the few to be accepted in intensive care centers.

Taking the Covid sanitary crisis into account, we’re delighted the device arrived at the right time. And that for our great satisfaction!

Still thanks to your donations, we could offer a suitable wheelchair to Mr Angelo Hernandez who became quadriplegic after a motorbike accident.  See photos.

Indeed, Nicolas had been fully involved in the organization of the “Ainvictus Rugby Tour” 7-a-side and 5-a-side rugby tournament supported by Ainteam Rugby Sevens, which was due to take place in June 2020 and whose profits were to help finance a wheelchair.

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