The ‘Luchamos por la Vida’ association has presented the Valdecilla Health Research Institute (IDIVAL) with a donation of 30,000 euros, raised during its popular solidarity race, held in April in Los Corrales de Buelna. This initiative, which has been supporting the fight against cancer for more than 14 years, has earmarked the funds for two research projects.
The amount has been divided equally between the projects led by Dr. Alfonso Bolado, from IDIVAL’s research group on skeletal, metabolic and environmental diseases, and Dr. José Pedro Vaqué, from the clinical and translational research group on digestive diseases.
Dr Bolado’s project studies how breast cancer cells acquire the ability to spread throughout the body, which is often associated with a worse prognosis. The focus is on a protein that is normally involved in defence against infection, but which the cancer uses to become more aggressive. The aim is to find weak spots in the tumour that can be targeted by new therapies.
Dr Vaqué’s project studies cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, a rare cancer affecting the skin that, in advanced stages, can spread with a poor prognosis. The team has completed a clinical trial to treat the early stages of the disease and is now focused on understanding how these malignant lymphocytes spread, in order to develop treatments for more advanced stages.
The ‘Luchamos por la Vida’ race is the largest solidarity walk in northern Spain and, in its fourteenth edition, brought together nearly 5,000 participants, along with a hundred volunteers and another hundred collaborating companies. This non-competitive event aims to promote healthy lifestyle habits, in addition to supporting people with cancer and their families. The day included activities for all ages, such as raffles, popular food and prize-giving.
The initiative was started 15 years ago by Almudena Ruiz, a resident of Los Corrales de Buelna who was fighting cancer. After her death, friends and colleagues continued to organise the walk, consolidating its success.
The president of the association, Ricardo Martínez Portillo, highlighted the commitment and participation of the volunteers and collaborators, pointing out that it is exciting to see how people from all over Spain come together for such an important cause. For his part, Dr. Vaqué highlighted the social and economic value of this donation, thanking the participants who contributed with their registration for the opportunity to explain their work. IDIVAL’s Director of Management, Galo Peralta, underlined the importance of these initiatives to raise awareness in society about health research and the advances that are being made for the benefit of patients and their families.
Finally, Ricardo Martínez encouraged the entire IDIVAL team, as well as society in general, to participate in the next edition, on Sunday 27 April 2025, where they will try to beat the Guinness World Record for the largest human bond formed to date.
