The Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer will take its annual Día de la Cuestación to the streets of Almería province on Thursday, 7 May, with 58 donation tables set up to raise money for cancer research and patient support. Thirty-three of the tables will be in the capital and 25 more will be spread across the rest of the province.
Magdalena Cantero presented the campaign at the association’s headquarters in Almería under the slogan “Cuando paras, nos movemos contra el cáncer,” alongside Cristo Heredia, Fran Iribarne, Alba Esteban, Celia García and Laura Castillo. Cantero said the association expects around 600 volunteers to help collect donations and urged Almerians to give what they can, saying the day depends on public generosity year after year.
She said the 7 May collection is the association’s main fundraising day and described it as a direct way to keep research moving. Cantero said the group is the private entity that contributes the most money to cancer research, with 157 million euros allocated to that work and 792 active research projects underway. Four of those projects have an Almería link, she said, and three of the researchers were present at the presentation while the fourth has not yet been introduced.
Heredia called on people to take part and said there is no small donation, adding that any support is needed for a fight that should unite everyone beyond ideology. Iribarne said it is a satisfaction for the club to collaborate on 7 May and throughout the year, and reminded people that sport is one of the major preventive measures and an ally in cancer recovery.
The researchers at the presentation gave examples of that work. Esteban said her study has already involved more than 600 women, and that none of the three researchers could carry out their work without the association’s support. García said she works with colon cancer patients and is trying to identify differences between patients with cancer and without cancer in order to help prevent colorectal cancer through nuclear magnetic resonance. Castillo said her work focuses on improving the transition of childhood cancer survivors into adult care.
The association says its donations fund research and patient care, and the unanswered piece in Almería is not whether the campaign matters but how much the province will give when the tables open on Thursday. The day is built on small contributions, and the people behind it say that is exactly how the money for research keeps coming in.
