The Fundación Freno al Ictus and the Fundación Alberto Contador donate €7,068.04 to inclusion and rehabilitation projects
The Fundación Freno al Ictus and the Fundación Alberto Contador have delivered this Tuesday a total of 7,068.04 euros, from the second edition of the solidarity action ‘Pedalea contra el ictus’ that both institutions promoted with the help of RPM-MKTG, in virtual format and that counted with the massive participation of the general public and great personalities of the Spanish sports world.
Both foundations in their constant fight against stroke promoted this initiative for the second consecutive year, whose main objective is to improve the situation of stroke in our country, giving visibility to the disease among society and being a vehicle for raising funds to be allocated to inclusion and rehabilitation projects for those affected.
In this second edition, two projects have been selected to benefit from these solidarity funds. 3,534.04 euros were allocated to the “Compete with DCA” project, led by the Fundación Segunda Parte, a project aimed at getting more people with DCA to take up competitive sport. And, on the other hand, 3,534.04 euros were awarded to the “Proyecto Kiero“, an innovative programme of self-leadership and creative empowerment for people affected by stroke and ACD with the collaboration of Ceadac (State Reference Centre for Brain Injury Care of the IMSERSO), which aims to help participants return to a daily rhythm of life in the best emotional and aptitudinal circumstances.
Alberto Contador, President of the Alberto Contador Foundation; Julio Agredano, President of the Freno al Ictus Foundation; Marta Pérez, Founder and Director of the Fundación Segunda Parte and Pedro Vaquero, co-creator of the Kiero Programme, as well as participants of the awarded projects who were able to share their experience with those present, attended the award ceremony which took place in Pinto, in the facilities of the Alberto Contador Foundation.
During the award ceremony, the Fundación Segunda Parte explained what the project consists of, which focuses on initiating people with ACD in competitive sport as a way to develop personally and in terms of sport, by taking on new challenges in an adapted and inclusive modality. “We are enormously grateful to the Pedalea contra el ictus project, thanks to this initiative we can give the opportunity to athletes who are interested in taking a step forward in their sporting development, accompanying and guiding them with the highest quality and affection”.
Pedro Vaquero spoke about the “Kiero Programme” stating that “after the success of the first edition of the programme that took place at the end of last year, the second edition started at the beginning of April with 15 people affected by stroke and DCA. We would like to thank both the Fundación Freno al Ictus and the Alberto Contador Foundation for their contribution, which will allow access to the programme to a greater number of people affected in future editions”.
In this sense, Alberto Contador said: “We are very happy to culminate the second edition of Pedalea contra el Ictus with the most important moment: the delivery of the money raised to the chosen project. This year, and this is something we are particularly pleased about, we have been able to grow and have a second project to which we can also allocate a sum of money. Both the Second Part Foundation and the Kiero Programme do a fantastic job with sport and physical activity as the backbone of their work. Knowing first-hand the experiences of some of the users of these initiatives reinforces the importance of continuing to strengthen these projects to combat and mitigate the after-effects and consequences of Acquired Brain Injury. That ‘so what now’, that recovery of the desire to do things, to want to live, which one of the users told us about”.
For his part, Julio Agredano, president of the Fundación Freno al Ictus, said that “Pedalea contra el ictus has two main objectives: to make the disease visible in society through a widely publicised event, and on the other hand, to raise funds to allocate them to finalist projects that help to improve and reduce the impact of stroke in our society. Both objectives were achieved in this second edition, and we are already working on the 2022 edition”.
According to data from the Spanish Society of Neurology, stroke is a cerebrovascular disease that affects 120,000 people every year in Spain, is the leading cause of death in women in our country, the world’s leading cause of acquired disability in adults and is the second leading cause of dementia after Alzheimer’s disease. In addition, currently more than 50% of those affected by stroke do not recover satisfactorily. However, it is a highly preventable and treatable disease, with 90% of strokes being preventable by modifying our lifestyle habits linked to personal health promotion. Furthermore, it is a pathology in which reaction time is fundamental for the correct evolution and treatment of the sequelae it causes.
