The CRIS Foundation against cancer, a benchmark in research against this disease, presented this Monday the ‘Manuel Project’ at the La Paz hospital in Madrid, in memory of the baby who died last February from rhabdoid cancer.
Friends, relatives, strangers and, in short, citizens from all over the Spanish geography have turned to this fundraising campaign, which began a few weeks before the death of the child and which required a minimum of 150,000 euros to start the investigation.
This project will be developed in the CRIS Advanced Therapies Unit of the Madrid hospital, directed by Dr. Antonio Pérez, a pediatrician who investigates childhood cancer. “We needed this amount to hire a specialist who can dedicate himself exclusively to researching rhabdoid cancer,” says the expert.
The research, which for the moment has a duration of three years, will serve to “lay the foundations and accelerate knowledge so that, in the coming years, more effective treatments can be generated or we have clues to generate clinical trials and evidence.”
Sara Fernández, mother of little Manuel, started the campaign last February when her son was admitted to the La Paz hospital for this rare cancer, which affects children under three years of age and its mortality rate is 80 to 100%. .
“We have a pending issue with this type of cancer. It is a very aggressive and resistant tumor, which proliferates very quickly,” says pediatrician Antonio Pérez. These tumors appear in a part of the organs, causing an uncontrolled multiplication of cells. This proliferation causes the tumor to spread rapidly and can cause metastasis in different parts of the body. This complexity causes greater resistance to conventional therapies such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy or surgery.
The pediatrician celebrates the figure reached but assures that they will “need many more resources” to continue the project and, above all, extend their research beyond three years.
Along these lines, Sara Fernández encourages us to continue helping and investing in cancer research and, above all, in cancers as rare as rhabdoid. “Research is the only thing that can help us all,” says this mother who only has words of gratitude for her. In addition, she assures that she has “a lot of hope” in the project, which she hopes will be extended for three more years. But for that, she points out, it is also for the institutions to invest much more money in research.
“Thanks to all the people who donated because they have made this continue,” Fernández reiterates on the other end of the phone. “Your help has paid off.”
