Fifty -four pilgrims with diabetes and for which the disease, far from being an obstacle is a stimulus to walk, arrived yesterday in Ponferrada within the campaign they have undertaken to promote healthSix -day route on foot through some sections of the Camino de Santiago.
Received by the mayor, Gloria Fernández Merayo, and the Councilor for Social Welfare, Pedro Muñoz, the pilgrims who challenge the diabetes.
"We try to demonstrate that there are no limits or barriers to live with diabetes," he said in the plenary hall - and with his teammates occupying the public seats to rest from the long walk that at noon already carried behind them - the managerFrom the Diabetes Foundation, Ana Mateo.
The head of the Foundation did not stop "pandemic" what happens with diabetes;A disease that, he said, affects more and more people.
Among the 54 pilgrims stood out the imposing figure of former Dutch Voelibol player Bas Van de Goor, who at the time continued to compete despite the fact that the disease diagnoses him;Something that also happens to Real Madrid Nacho player.Van De Goor has created a foundation to promote sport among those affected.
"I continued playing volleyball because diabetes is not an impediment," he said.
And with him, who was Olympic in 1996, ”Golden with his country - and in 2000, about twenty pilgrims have come from Holland.Sixteen Bercians of the Bierzo Diabetics Association have also joined the pilgrimage, which after traveling 120 kilometers in six days will arrive in Santiago on Friday after a last stage by bus.