MANILA – Christophe Bariou, the French businessman who is also the boyfriend of actress Nadine Lustre, has opened up about his bout with cancer.

In a lengthy post on Instagram, Bariou shared that he was diagnosed with cancer around three years ago and was told he only had a few weeks left to live.

“I experienced the darkest sensation of fear, which is something I thought I had already known because it wasn’t the first time I was in a life threatening situation. But this was different. The enemy was invisible and deep inside my own body – a body that I never doubted before, at the age of 27,” he said.

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A post shared by Christophe Bariou (@cbariou)

Bariou said his situation made him scared, angry and frustrated at life.

“I thought, I’ll never have kids, my own family, or finish what I started in Siargao. I will never get my first barrel surfing. Why is this happening to me? Why me? I felt so full of life and suddenly finding out I had a couple weeks left to live was devastating… to say the least,” he said.

“At that point, I was about to choose to stay put in Siargao, live the best I could out of my last days and not even bother trying to cure myself since I thought there was not much hope left,” he added.

As he was trying to accept his fate, Bariou said he learned from other doctors that there was a chance for him to heal but he had to drop everything and immediately go back to France to a specialized hospital.

“They discovered I had a very rare type of lymphoma and even mentioned it was so rare they had no statistics of survival but that they were still hopeful and my 6 month treatment started,” he said.

“Not only was I lucky enough to benefit from the best treatments available from the leading cancer research center in Europe, but all of this was completely free of charge thanks to the rights the French fought for. It just makes me think how unfair it can be in other countries when something as bad as this hits.”

Bariou said he was in full remission after only two months of intense chemotherapy and immunotherapy.

Despite everything he went through, Bariou said his life goals did not change at all.

“I wanted to get back on my feet as fast as possible and continue everything I started, but with more intention and even more motivation. When it comes to advocacies, it was a brutal reminder that life is fleeting. We do not have the luxury to wander and be mindless. I want to be mindful and conscious in every action. The best I can do is to lessen the suffering and cruelty around me, and promote kindness and compassion towards all forms of life – human and non-human. Our lives are way too precious to be wasted. In the same breath, other lives are too sacred to be robbed from them, too.”

With his post, Bariou is simply hoping “some readers will realize they should not wait for life to hit them hard to realize all of this.”

“I can make mistakes, I can make bad decisions but one thing I never want to have again is regrets. Live and let live,” he said.

To end his post, Bariou expressed gratitude to everyone who helped him in this journey.

“I can never thank enough everyone who supported me during these tough times – my partner at the time, my family and my friends.”