Under the slogan 'Pink is more than just a colour', the Branch Office Square in La Cala hosted, on Sunday 22nd, a day of protest which completed the events organised by the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC) of Mijas to commemorate World Breast Cancer Day. Patients, family members, neighbours and members of the association joined in the event to raise funds to pay for the various free services offered by the association and to collaborate with research into this disease. "Prevention is extremely important; a diagnostic test can save our lives. But we don't just want to raise awareness about prevention, we also want to inform about research, about what the AECC is doing in terms of research projects. It is very important, as we want 70% of all cancers to be curable by 2030", said the president of the AECC Mijas, Lola Sanchís.
The association was set up last June, after being linked to Fuengirola since its creation. However, the high number of patients and families in our municipality made it necessary for Mijas to have a group with its own identity. In order to collaborate with them, many neighbours, linked in one way or another with the disease, attended this event. For example, Aroa Pérez; her grandmother suffers from breast cancer and she is clear about it. "You always have to give her positivity, because if you don't, she falls apart, and that's worse for the disease", she said. However, one of the most moving moments of the morning came with the reading of a manifesto by a patient, Cristina Romero, who, as well as recounting her experience, conveyed a message of encouragement to all those affected. "I think that in the end it is the strong people who ask for help when they can't cope with everything, when you are on that roller coaster. I want to encourage everyone, either if it happens to you or if you have a family member who is affected, to let yourself be accompanied on this journey because letting yourself be helped is the most beautiful act of self-love that you can do for yourself", she said.
After her, the councillor for Health, Mariló Olmedo (Cs), took the stage and reminded the public that "from the Town Hall, we will always be at the side of the AECC, supporting this day and we have to do so to raise awareness about research and demand more resources and, above all, more prevention".
More research for more life
Although important advances have been made in recent years in the treatment of breast cancer, there are still challenges to be met. The first of these is to increase women's participation in breast cancer screening, which is essential for early diagnosis, and secondly, to improve psychological and emotional care for women diagnosed with breast cancer. In the province of Malaga, in 2022 alone, the association attended to 10,669 patients, 31% of all women with breast cancer in Spain. "From here I invite people to sign up and join them, the contribution is minimal but for research it is super important. The more research there is, the more people we will have cured", said councillor Laura Moreno (PSOE). For his part, the first deputy mayor, José Carlos Martín (Cs), recalled the importance of this day "so that resources are allocated to research; here we are encouraging and thanking the AECC, families and people who do their bit to alleviate the effects of this disease".
World Breast Cancer Day was commemorated on October 19th. A day on which information tables were set up in numerous municipalities in the province and the main buildings and monuments were lit up in pink. On Sunday 22nd, the day was also celebrated simultaneously in other towns. PP councillor Lourdes Burgos recalled "how important prevention is and how important it is to make people aware of it. I would like to take this opportunity to remind all women over the age of 40 that if they have not yet had their mammogram this year, don't waste time because prevention will save many lives".
Sunday continued with a zumba class, which also served as a warm-up for the walk along the Coastal Path. The group then made a stop at El Torreón, from where the march set off, a tide that covered the coastal strip in pink and reminded us of the need to stand together in the face of cancer.
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