Chantal Anne Veronique Lefevre

Chantal Lefevre M.D., age 63 of Jacksonville, died in a tragic accident on January 16, 2018 while on a cycling tour in Cuba. Chantal was born in Congo Kinshasa in 1954 to Mariette Rigo and Alfred Lefèvre who predeceased her. She is survived by her four brothers: Thierry, Xavier,Benoit and Gaëtan and her five nephews and one niece: Jonathan ,Lionel, Arnaud, Christopher, Loic and Laura.

When Chantal was 9 years old, the family moved back to their hometown in Liege, Belgium where she completed her education culminating in a degree of Doctor in Medicine in 1979.

After graduating, she joined Doctors without Borders and helped establish its Belgium branch. During the next three years she was sent on missions that included a refugee camp in Thailand next to Cambodia during the civil war in Cambodia as well as in Tchad and northern Congo. She eventually practiced medicine on 4 continents in the world during her lifetime. These were defining years for Chantal and she beamed with pride when Doctors without Borders was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009.

She returned to Belgium and for two years worked in the Chateaurouge hospital. It was during that period that she made the decision to become an Emergency Physician and she moved to the US in 1986 with that objective in mind.

In 1989 she completed her first residency in Internal Medicine at the Memorial Hospital in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. In 1992, she completed her second residency in Emergency Medicine at the University Medical Center in Jacksonville, Florida. She then practiced for two years in an ER in underserved areas of West Virginia in order to gain her green card. She moved back to Jacksonville to finally settle in 1994.

In many ways, at age 40, she had arrived. She joined Emergency Resources Group and become an integral member and stayed with this organization until her passing.

Chantal was an avid athlete. Early on in Belgium she started to swim and when she moved to the US she joined the US Masters Swimming organization. She began to train to become a triathlete and had a custom fitted bicycle made for her which soon became one of her prized possessions. For the last twenty years she competed in numerous triathlons around the world with one objective in mind: to qualify for and compete in the World Triathlon Championship in Kona, Hawaii. She achieved this goal when she finished the hardest race on Earth at the age of 60 in 2014.

She loved to travel and usually combined her love of sports with her travels that included cycling from St. Petersburg, Russia to Istanbul, Turkey to hiking in the Himalayas to kayaking in the frozen waters off Greenland.

She loved to garden and cook for her friends and loved using her vegetables from her gardens in her meals. She was frugal for herself but she was generous with others. Many of her friends will remember her as witty and unconventional.

She was honored to become a US citizen but her heart was always in Belgium as she kept dual citizenship from both countries.

She never married so she adopted her nephews and niece as her own and she was able to take four of them to a country of their choice to share with them her love of travel and exploration.

A celebration of Chantal’s life will be held on Saturday, February 10th at 11 am. In Hardage-Giddens Funeral Home of Mandarin. In lieu of flowers a donation to Doctors without Borders would be appreciated.

Arrangements by HARDAGE-GIDDENS FUNERAL HOME OF MANDARIN, 11801 San Jose Blvd. Jacksonville, FL 32223, www.hgmandarin.com, 904-288-0025.