Over 55,000 people walk in Valladolid to fund cancer research
The Spanish Association Against Cancer's 15th Valladolid walk drew 55,032 people, close to its 2019 record of 56,000. Every euro raised will go to research and to psychological and social support for patients and families. The total raised has not been published yet.
Carmen is 88, and on Sunday she walked through Valladolid with her daughter Isabel, who got through cancer a few years ago, her son-in-law and her granddaughters. They were among the 55,032 people who took part in the city’s 15th March Against Cancer, organised by the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC), Spanish news agency EFE reported. All the money raised will fund research projects and psychological and social support for patients and their families. The total raised has not been published yet.
Green, with a touch of purple
The sea of green T-shirts had a touch of purple this year, a nod to the local football club, Real Valladolid. Turnout came close to the 2019 record of 56,000 walkers. The march began in 2012 with 5,000 people, passed 33,000 in 2016 and reached 45,000 in 2017, and EFE describes it as the biggest of its kind in Spain.
Whole families joined the walk. Photo: Carlos Espeso / AECC Valladolid.
People came from outside the city too: Artemio Domínguez, provincial president of the AECC in Valladolid, highlighted the seventeen coaches that brought in residents from forty towns and villages. He urged people “not to get obsessed with numbers”, but said that “Valladolid’s solidarity translates into more research and into projects that give life”.
Two researchers behind the numbers
Among those funded by the AECC are two young scientists from the region. Beatriz Gutiérrez, a PhD researcher at the Institute of Biomedicine and Molecular Genetics (IBGM) in Valladolid, studies the colitis that immunotherapy can cause, looking for markers to predict it and for personalised treatments. Damián Pena, at the Cancer Research Centre in Salamanca, is searching for the “Achilles heel” of glioblastoma, an aggressive brain tumour, to stop it resisting chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
The march seen from above. Photo: Carlos Espeso / AECC Valladolid.
Both told EFE they felt proud, and a “great responsibility”, to have the backing of thousands of people, and pointed out that cancer covers more than two hundred different diseases.
Photos courtesy of AECC Valladolid.
