The City of Totana joins the challenge promoted by the delegation of the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC) in this town called "We support Pablo and you? ...", which aims to raise funds to cover funds of patients with neuroblastoma, a cancer in childhood.
The initiative consists in carrying out a march on foot for three days that will cover 150 kilometers, from Cieza to Totana: the first stage will be Cieza-Archena, the second Archena-Alcantarilla and the third and last Alcantarilla-Totana.
The mayor, Andrés García, the president of the AECC in Totana, Margarita Vicente, the president of the Federation of Rare Diseases (FEDER), Juan Carrión, and one of the four neighbors of Totana who will star in this march, Gregorio Martínez Gómez, presented This solidary challenge will be held from March 14 to 16.
The initiative aims to make this disease visible in society and raise funds for this child resident in Albacete and collaborate with the Association of Relatives and Friends of Patients with Neuroblastoma (Nen) to encourage research into this uncommon pathology of the sympathetic nervous system.
Neuroblastoma is a disease in which malignant (cancer) cells form from neuroblasts (immature nerve tissue) of the adrenal gland, neck, chest, or spinal cord.
It is the third most frequent tumor during the first two years of life, and after tumors of the central nervous system as a whole, the most frequent solid tumor of the child, representing 8-10% of pediatric tumors and diagnosing about 50 new cases every year in Spain.
All the effort of this association lies in research and in 2017 five lines of research were supported in different Spanish hospitals with more than 60,000 euros of resources from solidarity events, explained the president of FEDER, Juan Carrión.
The challenge will be that a group of four residents of Totana will travel during these three days the municipalities of Cieza, Abarán, Blanca, Ricote, Ojós, Ulea, Villanueva del Segura, Archena, Lorquí, Ceuta, Alguazas, Las Torres de Cotillas, Molina of Segura, Alcantarilla, Librilla, Alhama de Murcia and Totana with the aim of raising as much money as possible for the "Pablo Challenge".
Pablo is a five year old boy, resident in Albacete, who when he was 2 years and nine months old was diagnosed with stage IV disease, being one of the lowest surviving pediatric tumors.
Annually, some 1,400 cases of childhood cancer are diagnosed in Spain and only a little over half a hundred are neuroblastomas, which is why it is so important to continue investigating the better to increase that low survival rate that is only 40% -50% in high-risk neuroblastomas, according to the president of the AECC in Totana.
Pablo's challenge was born as a private initiative to raise funds that are normally allocated to public hospitals to investigate this rare pathology;
and after a year, funds have been raised for the Nen Association, which collaborates with numerous projects throughout Spain.
Those interested can make their income in the account of the Nen Association: ES15 2100 3887 0402 0005 0136
