Soooo… how about EC employing him as team coach while he was faking cancer AND dodging lawsuits over massive horse sale fraud?
Will they make any statement about any of this mess? Or just pretend it’s not happening?
How embarrassing.
4 Likes
EC won’t say anything. When he stepped down from being the ched d’équipe they alluded to the fact he may be riding again. Not that he was a shitty person and was fired.
Not that it’s one iota of my business but I’m still confused as to whether he has cancer but exaggerated the diagnosis or that he doesn’t have it at all.
He must have had something to lose all that weight and make people think he was on his last legs.
5 Likes
Yes, I’ve had two friends who died from glioblastoma. They were in their 50s. One lived slightly longer than a year; the other less. Only 6% of people survive five years. If he was going to choose a type of cancer to tell people, he picked one with a short survival rate (average is 8 months) and no chance of remission.
5 Likes
meth will take the weight right off. Reading the filings around the lawsuits are breathtaking. I can’t fathom a world where I text my trainer and say ‘at this point you owe me 1.4’
1.4 MILLION DOLLARS.
gadzooks.
9 Likes
The earlier link to the 2020 article in Horse Sport indicates he’s been exaggerating for years. The kidney story is obvious BS.
Also… My understanding of brain cancer, or cancers that have metastasized to the brain, has also always been that chemo is of limited utility because of the blood brain barrier.
Also, read the stats already cited concerning glioblastoma survival. IF Lamaze actually had brain cancer… it certainly wasn’t glioblastoma.
Personally, I think when you see someone spouting these many lies about their treatment and diagnosis… the whole thing is suspect. Especially when you learn they tired to perpetrate a fraud on the court. And that they also are credibly accused of multiple other incidents of financial fraud. And they also have a well known, multiple decade problem with drug abuse
Here’s the link to the earlier report again…
Here is the relevant passage back from 2020 about what he was claiming then… he referenced private European doctors even back then… perhaps the same doctors-clinic that made statements that they do not know Lamaze, nor have they treated him. So it sure seems like he has been lying for at least 3 years… probably more, IMO.
On His Health: Lamaze was diagnosed with brain lesions that developed into an inoperable brain tumor. He put his life in the hands of the private European healthcare system and was taking chemotherapy pills to shrink the tumor. He credits these doctors with saving his life, but it came at a great financial expense. But more stressful than the money have been the major health challenges that came after the tumor was gone. For starters, his organs were in terrible shape. “My heart was inflamed, and my kidney was destroyed. I was in terrible shape. I was in pain. I did Aachen, I was so much pain my back I was crying the whole way home.”
Lamaze describes in harrowing detail how exhausted he has been and the long road to recovery. That he still manages to ride seems astounding, but no surprise given the toughness of a person who had already overcome so much. “I had my ups and downs, but the only time I felt normal was riding a horse. I forgot all about [the pain and sickness]. It was incredible.” He continued saying horses were the best drug he received and was glad he continued riding. He regretted not being able to attend to all his clients due to days when he couldn’t move from pain or exhaustion, or nausea from the medications. “Rest is your best friend in that circumstance. You have to treat your body and give respect to it.”
Lamaze also shares that two years ago he weighed only 93 lbs. and watching others compete on television was heartbreaking. He said his doctors could not restart his body; it was as though his body had had enough. He also withdrew socially, not wanting to burden friends and also wanting to be alone with his suffering. “I was very uncomfortable being in any social situation. I lost my way of communicating,” he said. “To this day I still am I’m not completely comfortable because I’ve been alone for so long by choice… I’m trying to leave what’s left in me for riding or teaching.”
He remembers being a social butterfly who loved going out, but he’s lost all of that. “For the moment I’m very happy being alone and just going through this.”
On His Kidney: His doctors discovered that his kidney was the main problem in his recovery. It was infected and releasing toxins into his body that also affected his heart. He was given an artificial kidney that is controlled by a computer. This is a rare operation but given he had few options – he was told he was too weak to survive a traditional transplant – he said he felt better almost immediately.
As for his prognosis, Lamaze didn’t want to talk too much about it at this stage. He tries to train every day, but he says his next challenge will be weaning off of the drugs that have kept him alive and out of pain. “The tumor is very much under control, basically at this point they would like me to gain weight and try to cut the medication and see if the old Eric will come back,” he says. “But when they cut all the drugs that were keeping me getting up and smiling, that is the hardest thing to do. [I’m] going to live in a dark world for a while but if I succeed then I have a chance to rebuild my body without medication and start being who I am versus a person taking drugs to stay alive.”
Lamaze knows he will need help, including with depression that accompanies such a drug withdrawal. But he appeared optimistic and hopeful. “I’m not out of the woods, I have one big fight ahead of me, and hope to win that fight. But it’s not going to be an easy one.”
1 Like
Actually, as the sister of an addict, that is just what an addict is willing to do; the drugs over everything else.
17 Likes
For me, the biggest sadness in all of this is how little surprised I am by this story. Not only that, it feels like stories of extreme unethical behavior have become almost normal, which horrifies me. Perhaps not to this extreme, but the shady horse dealings, scamming owners, then trying to lie one’s way out of prosecution feels like a story we’ve all heard a million times before in the horse world. No, I don’t think people are worse today than they were in the past, but it’s so easy to communicate and share news today, and the money exchanging hands is so much greater than before, that it seems like there are more of them out there.
If it wouldn’t leave such a bad mark against equestrian sports, I’d pitch a TV series based on the bad apples.
20 Likes
I remember reading some articles about his illness and treatments back when it was first being reported, and thinking that it all sounded off, but put it down to translation issues (either French to English, or whatever language the private European clinics were communicating in to English). I never imagined it sounded strange because it was made up by someone who didn’t really know what they were talking about! 
8 Likes
Same
Holy moly. Here’s a follow up report from COTH that details the full scope of his financial misadventures. He’s been using his alleged poor health as an excuse to skip out on court dates and bills owed for some time. Not good.
2 Likes
Look, I am not a superstitious person, but after seeing my mom die from cancer…faking cancer is bad karma I do not want to bring on myself.
7 Likes
And let’s be honest, if one WERE to pick a cancer to fake, picking a 100% fatal, low quality of life, very very short life expectancy one, is not the brightest move.
But then, I’ve also never been on the spot with an overwhelming amount of lawsuits totalling millions of dollars against me, while my shady history quickly running up my heels, and facing multiple evictions from $30k/month apartments and repossessions of my luxury yachts, so maybe I shouldn’t be so quick to judge?
27 Likes
Yup.
And it’s odd/suspicious that he was vague in the earlier 2020 interview about the actual diagnosis when it came to his “brain cancer.” When it comes to cancer diagnoses… people tend to be specific. My breast cancer was invasive ductal carcinoma. There are many other types. People are often very specific when speaking about skin or blood cancers as well as different types have VASTLY different prognosis. And VASTLY different treatments.
Glioblastoma was in the news a lot in recent years , in part because of the death of Beau Biden. Maybe that planted a seed of an idea…
5 Likes
This is making me think of a person who used to be a close friend, which ended when I began to understand that she was lying all.the.time. About everything, including dumb stuff that she could have no possible reason for lying about. She pulled other people in, as well, and would trash someone’s reputation to multiple people, often (we figured out later) with somewhat different lies, or variations on the same one. It was bizarre and horrible.
The lie that made me think of her with this thread is that she told me and many other people that she has Cystic Fibrosis. Of course I believed her, but in retrospect nothing about it rings true, and I would be seriously floored if I ever learned she actually had this terrible condition. It’s gross the amount of lying she did, and it’s gross she lied to make herself look good and other people bad, but the faking a medical diagnosis is extra-gross. Oh, and she defrauded several business partners and friends out of money, so there is that, too…
3 Likes
If he is suffering from substance abuse (addiction), that is an actual illness. The lying not so much. But a person with substance abuse illness is truly ill, just as someone with cancer is truly ill. Just saying. . .
3 Likes
I’d say it was Gord Downie - I think the timing is right (if that’s the speculation).
5 Likes
Hmmm. Interesting. Senator John McCain died from glioblastoma as well, in 2018, and it was all over the news for awhile.
It’s the same cancer that took Canadians beloved Gord Downie of The Tragically Hip. A real Canadian icon and hero. Perhaps that is relevant.
I’ve seen the backside of this industry. It’s ugly, it’s dirty and it’s populated with lunatics. So I’m never all that surprised but this is really hideous. I’ve long been a defender of Eric. Cocaine use was nothing new he just got caught. But this? Fack.
11 Likes
I’m afraid what I see in the totality of the behaviour is a cluster B personality disorder. As in, I very closely knew an Olympian who had many of the types of behaviours described in this thread, and was told she was diagnosed Borderline Personality Disorder but only after the fact… When a person has a severe personality disorder, one of the things that happens is they don’t believe they have a problem and don’t believe they require treatment. So even though people tried to help, she refused it, and just blamed everything on other people. While also exhibiting the most terrible behaviours and psychological abuse.
7 Likes
