Staff Reporter
In SPAIN there are over 1,000 people diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes every year, and most of those are under 15 years old. This is a growing problem, yet its cause is not known and there is no cure. The charity DiabeteCERO wants to change that by funding research projects in Spain to find the cure.
Specsavers Ópticas have pledged to help fund this important research and optometrist Carlos Partal from the Marbella store will be running the Estepona Half Marathon on 5th May 2024 to raise money for this worthy cause.
The 21KM route starts in Cancelada and Carlos and his fellow runners will run all the way along the Estepona promenade, along by the sea, finishing in the Estepona Athletics Stadium, the sporting heart of Estepona.
This is a personal challenge for Carlos and he’s training hard to make sure he’s ready to take on the course. He’s previously run 5K and 10K races, but this is a much bigger challenge and he’d love to be able to raise a lot of money for DiabetesCERO along the way, setting a target to raise €500. Donations can be made at Specsavers Ópticas Marbella, or via the website GoFundMe.
Carlos explains, ‘Diabetes is one of the leading causes of vision loss so I’m delighted to be raising money for a diabetes research foundation and helping in my own way to try and find a cure. Sadly, we see evidence of the damage that diabetes can cause to the blood vessels in the back of the eye during eye tests.
We often spot the signs of diabetes before customers are aware they have it, and we refer our clients to an ophthalmologist for diagnosis and immediate treatment. This is important, as timely intervention makes a big difference in the outcome.
If you have diabetes, it is important that blood sugar level, blood pressure and cholesterol levels are controlled to avoid irreversible vision loss.’
Carlos’ store director Nerea Galdos-Little comments, ‘We’re so proud of Carlos for setting himself this ambitious goal of completing a half marathon and delighted that he’s raising money for DiabetesCERO.
Specsavers Ópticas has pledged to raise €5,000 for this charity across its nine stores in Spain during 2024. Carlos is the first person to take on a challenge and is leading the way for the other stores to follow.
If he achieves his goal amount of €500, that will really help us hit, or exceed the target, as we will be collecting throughout the year in store and are looking at other ways we can raise money for this excellent cause. We are telling all our customers about the charity and hope everyone will get behind Carlos and this fantastic cause. We will be there cheering him on during the day’
Donations can be made at Specsavers Ópticas in Marbella, on Avenida Ricardo Soriano 12, Local 5A, 29601, or via GoFundMe. You can find out more about the charity on their website www.diabetescero.org.
If you’d like to enter to run the Estepona Half Marathon, you can do so until the 30th of April. Find out more on Facebook @mmestepona.
