Hundreds of people of all ages took part in an exciting and spectacular new edition of the Transplant Run on Saturday, December 18, the charity race for organ donation.
The race, held on a circuit in L'Hospitalet, with arrival and departure at the Bellvitge University Hospital as part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the center, was a sample of the sporting and social spirit offered by hundreds of runners committed to a model of public medicine that has made Catalonia a benchmark and state leader in transplantation.
“Giving is life” was the most repeated slogan during Transplant Run 2021, which met the challenge of strengthening leadership in the dissemination and promotion of solid organ donation. Promoted and organized by ADER, the Association of Renal Diseases of Catalonia, the event was extraordinarily spectacular and emotional. Relatives who dedicated the race to loved ones living today thanks to a donation, people who did it in memory of others who extended years of existence also thanks to the generosity of donors, dozens of transplants, or donor couples and receiver wanted to run the transplant race. They were the main protagonists of this race for life that ended with the promise of ADER and L'Hospitalet to give it continuity in 2022 in this same scenario.
The race had the support and personal presence of the main medical and public health authorities such as the president of the OCATT (Catalan Transplant Organization), Joan Tort and Dr. Josep Cruzado, head of the Nephrology Service of the Bellvitge Hospital, who also completed the course. race with a group of professionals from the Service.
Elena Román, a youtuber living in Madrid and having a kidney transplant, was the godmother of the race, spreading to all runners her enthusiasm and passion for sport and life, starting the morning with a spectacular warm-up.
The contributions and income from the registration of runners and 'Dorsal 0' will be used to benefit two donation and transplant projects in Catalonia. A scientific committee of experts formed by Jaume Tort, President of OCATT, together with Dr. Francesc Moreso, Dr. Josep M. Campistol and Dr. Joan Fabregat and Dr. Javier Altemir, transplant patient, will designate the beneficiaries. The rules will be announced in the coming days.
Antoni Tombas, president of the ADER, thanked the participation and collaboration of those who made the race possible and those who supported it, such as the two councilors of Hospitalet City Council, Maite Revilla, responsible of sports and of the District of Bellvitge. and Olga Gómez from District II. Also present were Josep María Martínez (Association of Liver Transplants of Catalonia), Toni Bailo (Aire. Association of Lung Transplants), Dra. Montserrat Figuerola, manager of the Southern Metropolitan Territory of the Catalan Institute of Health and Raül Serra, coordinator Secretary of Assistance and Participation of the Department of Health.
The winners of the absolute category were Miriam Rueda and Farid Kehtira, the son of a transplanter who ran with such enthusiasm that he flew to the finish line with extraordinary time.