London, Nov 16 (EFE).- Convinced that only cooperation between scientists from different institutions and countries can accelerate research, the Spanish Lola Manterola, founder of the CRIS Foundation against Cancer, is now reaping the fruits of more than a decade of effort born from his own experience as a survivor.
With offices in Spain, the United Kingdom and France, the foundation (acronym in English for Research and Innovation in Cancer Science) already has more than 80,000 members, which allows it to finance projects in some 80 centers in 16 countries.
The work of CRIS received recognition at the highest level in the United Kingdom this year, when the University of London appointed Manterola an honorary doctorate, at the proposal of the prestigious Institute of Cancer Research (ICR).
“The collaboration promoted by the Foundation has the sole objective of accelerating research (…) because there is no better way than to put together extraordinary minds, excellent researchers from different countries around the world, so that they can work together and accelerate these discoveries.” “Manterola told EFE.
CRIS devotes special attention to childhood cancer, with the focus this year on brain tumors, “the most lethal” in the earliest age groups.
Manterola explains that, since the number of cases is small compared to those that occur among adults, neither the pharmaceutical industry nor the State consider them a priority in their investigations.
Remember that these children are often treated with “more toxic drugs than adults” and suffer side effects that are “much more decisive in their lives than an adult who has already grown and developed his organs.”
CRIS’ greatest endeavor has always been precisely to go where other funders, such as the State, do not go, for which they have an agility that is appreciated by researchers.
A fundamental part of the organization are the multidisciplinary units it has in public hospitals in Spain, which often care for patients who do not respond to conventional treatments and who are looking for a trial because otherwise they would be considered hopeless.
“Philanthropy is in each of us. In Spain we are the first country in organ donation, the first country that when there are emergencies donates at the moment. But we have to (…) support research, we are all responsible for ensuring that this will move forward,” he says after remembering that cancer will affect one in two people.
Manterola knows what he is talking about. She suffered the sudden blow of the disease at the age of 37. A rare case, multiple myeloma, that occurred without warning.
“I was a young, working mother, and I felt very tired. In the end I went to the doctor after a long time and they diagnosed me with blood cancer. It was very advanced and with a poor prognosis. In fact, months of life expectancy” , remember.
Nothing could make her suspect that something similar was going to happen to her: she was an athlete, she ate healthy, she had no family history… no risk factor that would have alerted her.
“I received conventional treatments and they didn’t cure the cancer. Then they put me in a clinical trial that gave me my life back. At that moment, you realize the importance of cancer trials and research,” he recalls.
With the vital and tireless help of her husband, Diego Megía, she was able to overcome her illness and set up a foundation “to give the same opportunity that I had to other cancer patients.”
Manterola is convinced that medical and technological advances will make it possible to end cancer in the future, which will require a lot of funding, but until that happens, the president of CRIS in the United Kingdom, Marta Brime, advocates focusing on prevention.
“The resources are not infinite and obviously they must be distributed. And it seems that sometimes prevention is not one of the priorities, but if we gave it more importance, maybe later we would not have to act with more expensive treatments and that sometimes, unfortunately , they arrive late,” says Brime, who has held that position since May. EFE
