Vilanova i la Geltrú, the municipality of Íngrid Marín Mazán, is having a major festival. Íngrid, 15, has made his life another celebration, a daily party. He was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 10. Mónica and Óscar, his parents, tremble when they remember that he asked them: “Am I going to die?” Leukemia can be defeated: she is the proof. But leukemia, like all types of cancer, needs research and material resources.
Íngrid, who accepted the news with a maturity beyond her age, is an excellent student (she speaks French and English, as well as Spanish and Catalan). She was told that bad leukocytes had invaded her blood factory, in her bone marrow, and that she would receive chemotherapy for two years so that only the good ones would remain. What would those leucos be like, she wondered. And she drew them with happy forms and altruistic ends.
His grandmother Luisa sews very well and turned the designs into felt figurines. This is how Leuco’s by Ingrid was born, solidarity key rings, brooches and magnets. Some 50,000 have been made, thanks to family and a legion of friends. They have starred in galas, sports tournaments and a concert in Els Catarres. Two created for the Gràcia festivities will be sold in this Barcelona neighborhood, that of José, Íngrid’s maternal grandfather.
Proceeds go entirely to childhood cancer research. First, they went to Sant Joan de Déu, Íngrid’s hospital. And, since 2013, for scholarships in pediatric oncology and hematology from the Enriqueta Villavecchia Foundation. This institution recognizes that the products (there are also cups, badges, bags, masks and surgical caps) “have raised about 200,000 euros in donations since 2018.”
Íngrid, Mónica and Óscar are not the only heroes in this story. Much is said about patients and their parents, but very important people are often forgotten. Lena, who was only seven years old when her sister fell ill, has always shown an exemplary attitude. One day they were both playing at home, between cycles of chemotherapy. Monica watched them from the kitchen. It was in January 2019. Íngrid still had hair…
In Sant Joan de Déu they nicknamed her the girl with unruly hair because they were surprised that she still had her long hair, six months after the start of the sessions. And suddenly, on that winter day, she bald almost overnight. Her mother did not know what to do. Her little daughter, yes. She kissed her sister and said, “I love you, my little Buddha.” And then she made a ball with the locks: “This will be our pet.”
There is a beautiful photo of the two sisters. They form a heart with their hands. “That was her attitude throughout the entire process,” recalls her mother. Íngrid would like to work helping others, although he still doesn’t know in what way (“I considered being a nurse, but I got very tired of hospitals”). Her treatment lasted exactly two years: from July 4, 2018 to July 4, 2020. “You’re done,” Dr. Albert Català told her that day.
Not only did he not fail any subject in that time, but he also had very good grades, despite studying at the hospital and at home, without being able to step foot in the classes. This course will begin in the Cabanyes de Vilanova i la Geltrú institute the bachibac, which will allow you to obtain the title of Spanish Bachelor and the French Diplôme du Baccalauréat. When she was hospitalized she was told that she would have a tutor to supervise her studies, but…
The tutor never came because at that time she was a student at the Lycée Bel Air-Garraf, a reputable French private center in the town of Sant Pere de Ribes. No one ever asked her about the income of her parents, who are not exactly millionaires and could only send their daughters to school there through a labor agreement (the mother is a center worker). “We protested against this discrimination and made those responsible reflect.”
When a door closes, a window opens. France showed more agility than Spain and the consular authorities made a distance study program available to them. If leukemia has shown something good in this case, it is that there are two types of families. The one of blood and the other, the one that is established by affection. The members of this second family are so many that they do not fit here. We will cite only one: Christian.
Christian is a former teacher at Bel Air-Garraf, now retired, who volunteered to help her as soon as he found out about her situation. “Today she is part of my second family,” says Íngrid. The summer of the leukemia, she and her family were planning to visit Bordeaux and see a performance by Kids United, a now disbanded pop group made up of children and adolescents (a French Parcheesi). Everything went to waste, of course.
Íngrid’s father sent an email to the promoters of the concert explaining the reasons for the cancellation of the trip. Not only did they refund the amount of the tickets (we have already said that they are not rich), but all the members of the group recorded an affectionate video to send encouragement to the sick woman. The family finally made a short getaway to Bordeaux last year, the departure so long postponed.
“This will be our pet,” Lena told her when she made a ball with the locks and kept them in the box with the accessories for the leucos: ears, eyes, legs… The sisters, like so many girls, wanted to have a dog, but in the situation of the eldest that was totally inadvisable. When her defenses strengthened and the intravenous chemotherapy ended (there was still the oral one), the possibility was no longer so unfeasible.
The doctors recommended, yes, a small and hypoallergenic breed, which would not cause allergies. These specimens are so expensive that the only option was adoption. In 2019, the same day that intravenous chemotherapy ended, another window opened. The family received a call from a toy poodle breeder from Córdoba, who had also overcome leukemia and who knew his story. He gave them a puppy.
Another ball of fur, Sam, arrived in Vilanova i la Geltrú like this. When the sick woman had a bad day, he would curl up next to her, not wanting to eat or drink. “It seems incredible how such a tiny being can give so much help.” Help is a word that is repeated a lot in this house, where everyone considers themselves very lucky and forced to shake hands that allowed them to stay on their feet when they needed it most.
Hands of public health, of foundations that give everything for nothing and of people who don’t even know, but promote their solidarity campaign. Although progress has been made against cancer, investment is still needed and much work remains to be done. But leukemia can be cured. Five years later, Íngrid is restored. The motto of the festival in Vilanova i la Geltrú, its municipality, is Més vius que mai. More alive than ever.