The counter of the 33rd edition of the Telethon reached 74.6 million euros Sunday, up from the 2018 edition where the charity event had been jostled by the mobilization of "yellow vests". The final meter posted 74,569,212 euros against a total of 69.3 euros in 2018, without however returning to the level of the 2017 edition which had collected 75.6 million euros. "The meter is higher than last year but it is difficult to compare because it was a particularly troubled edition," said Laurence Tiennot-Herment in the early evening, president of the French Association against myopathies (AFM) who organizes the event.
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A rise after the yellow vests
The 2018 Telethon was marked by the cancellation of several events in many cities due to the protests and a decline in donor mobilization. Although this great charity marathon is taking place again in a context of social mobilization, the strike against the pension reform has not affected the events planned. Only one was canceled according to the organization, the "March of Rare Diseases", which should have been held Saturday in Paris with Jean-Paul Rouve, sponsor of this edition.
Placed under the sign of the "new victories" hoped for in several diseases thanks to the gene therapy, this edition proposed 30 hours of live from a TV set installed at the foot of the City of Sciences and Industry, in the park of the Villette in Paris. On France 2, the "Great Telethon Festival" presented Saturday evening testimonials, music and surprises, as well as an auction of objects by artists, under the leadership of the animators Sophie Davant and Nagui. The evening ended around 1:45 am Sunday.
Donations on the internet or by phone
The AFM-Telethon had called on donors to mobilize for the "final sprint". "The treatments, it urges!", Insisted the association in a statement, taking again the words used in its testimony live by Jonas, young patient of 23 years old with a calpainopathy, degenerative disease which deprives him progressively of the use of his muscles.
Gifts, tax-deductible at 66%, can be made on the website www.telethon.fr or by phone at 36.37.