Telethon is an opportunity to highlight genetic diseases and make donations.
Each year, more than 30 hours of live television broadcast allow you to collect donations for the benefit of genetic diseases. Since its first edition in 1987, the Telethon has been a charitable event which gives the means to the AFM-Telethon association (the French association against myopathies) to continue its fight against genetic diseases. “Genetic diseases destroyed the lives of our children and our families. To fight them, we had nothing: neither means nor treatments. There was no question of resigning ourselves and we created the Telethon. We wanted to give life to research that did not exist. We wanted to revolutionize medicine. Year after year, thanks to your faithful support, we arrived there” explains Laurence Tiennot-Herment, president of AFM-Téléthon.
What is the date of the Telethon in 2025?
The 39th edition of the Telethon will take place on December 5 and 6, 2025 (Friday and Saturday)
Who is the godfather or the godmother of the Telethon?
The singer Santa will be the godmother of the 39th edition of the Telethon. “I will give all my energy and humbly join volunteers, researchers, ambassador families as well as all the AFM-Télethon and France Télévisions teams so that this 2025 edition exceeds donations,” she told AFM-Telethon. Followed one another as sponsors and godmothers of the Telethon the following personalities: Mika in 2024, Vianney in 2023, Kev Adams in 2022, Soprano in 2021, Matt Pokora in 2020, Jean-Paul Rouve in 2019, but also earlier, Zazie, Garou, Patrick Bruel, Franck Dubosc, Gad Elmaleh, Anne Roumanoff Daniel Auteuil, Gérard Jugnot, Thierry Lhermitte, Yannick Noah, Pierre Perret, Alain Delon …
What diseases supported by the Telethon?
CLI testsnics funded by the gifts of the Telethon concern rare diseases of muscles, vision, blood blood and brain. The best known is myopathy but there is also:
- spinal amyotrophy,
- Congenital muscle dystrophies,
- muscle glycogenosis,
- Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy,
- Charcot’s disease,
- Steinert’s disease,
- inflammatory myopathies,
- Autoimmune myasthenia …
How is the Telethon show going?
Each year, the program of the Telethon brings together the sponsor of the event, artists, animators of France Télévisions (France 2 and France 3), researchers and doctors who take stock of the advances in research, but also families of patients who testify to their daily lives. It is broadcast on France Télévisions from Friday evening to Saturday at night, live. The idea came from the United States where a charitable television marathon has existed since 1966. In France, two dads whose sons are suffering from Duchenne myopathy have the idea of adapting this American concept and managed to convince France 2 (Antenne 2 at the time) in 1987, the year in which the first French telethon on television was broadcast.
In parallel, there is also the connected telethon: also, the cameras of France Télévisions settle in 4 cities of France. This year, the cities of Quimper, Avesnes-sur-Helpe, Bonifacio and Firminy are ambassadors. We find there the traditional culinary or sports challenges, and an unprecedented challenge: the city of Firminy launched the challenge of carrying out the largest scrum in the world with 3,637 participants or Quimper set out to make 10,000 (and more).
To make a donation, three possibilities:
- By phone at 3637 (free service + a call price) on Friday at 8 am.
- On the internet On the Telethon website
- By mail: AFM Telethon – BP 83637-16954 Angoulême Cedex 9.
Note that you can deduce from your taxes 66 % of the amount of your donation (within the limit of 20% of taxable income). For example, if you donate 100 euros, you will only pay 34 euros after the 66% tax reduction.
What is the telethon logo?
Key dates in the history of the Telethon
► 1986: Inspired by an American concept invented in 1966 by the actor Jerry Lewis, the Telethon was created in France by Bernard Barataud (President of the AFM) and Pierre Birambeau (Director of Development), two fathers whose sons are suffering from myopathy.
► December 4, 1987the first Telethon is broadcast on Antenna 2 live from Radio France studios. For 28 hours, Michel Drucker, Claude Sérillon, Gérard Holtz and Jacques Chancel take turns with the branch with the godfather Jerry Lewis. The collection of donations reaches more than 175 million francs.
► Since this first editionthe Telethon allows the associative world, sports federations, companies to mobilize by organizing cultural and sports events in the cities and villages of France.
