Behind the Nice spider-man hides Geoffrey, suffering from cystic fibrosis. Thanks to his challenges and his kitty, he hopes to raise awareness about the disease and collect donations for children in hospitals.
The friendly neighborhood spider is coming to Nice. Dressed in his blue and red costume, the superhero wanders on the Promenade des Anglais and does not hesitate to pose with the people of Nice or to chat with tourists.
Behind the Spider-Man mask, not Peter Parker or Tom Holland, but Geoffrey, a 25-year-old young man with cystic fibrosis, a disease that mainly affects the lungs. It was in the spider-man costume that he decided to raise awareness about his disease and take up all the challenges in order to raise funds.
“The biggest challenge of my life”
“The association is called Spider-Muco”, he explains to the curious who came to meet him at the edge of the beach. “It’s events in Nice where I highlight this disease to try to help children in hospitals.”
If he attaches to dressing as Spider-Man, it is also to raise money for sick children. A fight far from the Green Goblin or Doctor Octopus, which is really close to his heart.
For several years now, Geoffrey has been sharing videos about his illness on YouTube. Dressed as a spider-man, he offers gifts to children, makes the people of Nice laugh in the streets of his city or even leads micro-sidewalks.
With his kitty put online at the start of the year, he has already been able to collect more than 2300 euros. At each level crossed, the young man takes up a challenge. “At 100 euros, I had to do a challenge, at 500 euros another”, explains the Nice Spider-Man.
“At 1000 euros, I had to parachute in a Spider-Man and at 1500 euros I had committed to cycling 1500 kilometers, starting from the Promenade des Anglais in Nice to go towards Brest.”
On his channel, the Nice Spider-Man has already posted a teaser of the “greatest challenge of his life”.
“Being Spider-Man opens up the world”
“I want to give people hope and show that despite having cystic fibrosis, I am affected and I will still try to do a physical challenge, to show that you can do anything with willpower”, specifies t -he.
It is in the costume of one of the most iconic superheroes that the young man meets all these objectives. “Being Spider-Man opens up the world.” He first donned this costume when the film was released Spider-Man: No Way Homea moment he filmed and posted on YouTube.
“(It was) in order to get people talking about me, so that I could more easily open the doors of hospitals to me,” says Geoffrey. Today, it has managed to weave its web in hospitals and gives smiles, and funds, to children.
“People with this disease must not lose hope.”
Geoffrey’s older brother, Fabien, is also affected by this disease, more particularly “a very rare form of cystic fibrosis mutation (…), less serious than ‘normal’ cystic fibrosis”.
Spider-Man will cross France by bike from August 20. Behind his mask, Geoffrey is already thinking about his next challenge.