Amputated after a car accident, he educates schoolchildren about road safety in Mougins

In France, out of 2,944 road deaths in 2021, 691 young people were under the age of 24, 12 of whom lost their lives in the Alpes-Maritimes. Figures that give goosebumps when you are 14 years old. But much less than the poignant testimony of Mickaël Louvel, 47, who came to tell his story in front of 13 classes of 4^e colleges of Chênaie and Campelières de Mougins. A road prevention action proposed Monday by the municipality of Mougins.

On the set of Scene 55, this resilient recounted this upset life. One arm less. At only 23 years old. Not to shock. But to share. Sensitize the youth. From his exit from the road in a wet bend in the countryside – without alcohol or speeding but without the belt – he speaks calmly. With smile.

A month of coma

That day in October 1997, at 3am, he changed his destiny in a fifteen-meter ravine. “Six or seven barrels. Three hours of waiting for help in the middle of the night. My arm touching the ground. Three cardiac arrests. A month in a coma. When I woke up: I no longer had a right arm”. A shock aggravated by a head trauma due to a fall from his hospital bed which led to paralysis of his leg for a year and a half. But Mickaël Louvel has rebuilt himself.

“Sport saved me”

Thanks to rehabilitation at the Hélio Marin center and his lifelong sport: bodybuilding. “I knew that sport would save me”. The man who now manages a nutrition store in Cagnes-sur-Mer has even become European champion twice, world champion and even Mr. Universe!

Phantom pains

Kindly answering teens’ questions about his daily life, he says: “I can tie my shoelace with two fingers, I laughs at the gaze of others, but I have had to endure at all times, for 25 years, these phantom pains of the missing arm”.

Despite the drama, the need to rehabilitate and live took over. Not dreams to fulfill. “I made them all. Like competing in the United States with able-bodied athletes and winning. And even meet Arnold Schwarzenegger!”.

Another trajectory without the accident? His challenges are before him, not his regrets. “I’m preparing for the world bodybuilding championships next year.”.