18 people from Asvidia make the Camino de Santiago for diabetes

The 18 Basque diabetics selected to participate in this challenge managed to complete the five stages of which the English road challenge, arriving in Santiago de Compostela yesterday.

The Biscay Association of Diabetes (ASVIDIA) participated this year, for the first time, in the challenge you walk through the 2019 diabetes. The walk, in which it is already its third edition, consisted of making five stages of the so -called English path, which goes fromThe Coruña town of Neda to Santiago de Compostela.

In total, 100 diabetics from the entire state participated, including 18 Basques.The objective of this initiative is to claim the importance of physical exercise for people with diabetes and make visible the disease that, according to the Spanish Diabetes Federation (Fede) suffer more than five million people.

Last year, the Biscay Association organized a similar activity that consisted of carrying out the stages of the road between Logroño and Burgos, so the walk to Santiago already caught prepared to the Biscay diabetics.This year, the challenge is supported by the Diabetes Foundation, the Fede and a Danish pharmaceutical company.Participants are people with type 2 diabetes, the most frequent among adults.Joseba Miranda, representative of Asvidia, clarifies that "despite the disease, a normal life can be made, with proper food, exercise and following medical guidelines."

For this challenge, more than 1,000 people were registered, of which only 100 were chosen to make the way.His preparation, which began in January, was to do daily exercise and walks of 15 or 20 kilometers during the weekends.In this pilgrimage, the necessary doses of insulin, glucometer and the medication required for each one were added to the usual equipment, since most are chronic patients and suffer from other types of pathologies.During this adventure they were accompanied by a voluntary medical team, which was in charge of control of glucose measurements.

A 96 kilometers Vizcainos challenge began this challenge on the 14th and managed to meet the forecasts by getting to their destination yesterday.With the batteries loaded to start this challenge, the group faced the first stage of twelve kilometers to cover the distance between Neda and Pontedeume.The next day they made the journey to Betanzos, twenty kilometers; last Monday, the stop was in Bruma Hospital and on Tuesday in Sigüeiro, both 24 kilometers.Finally, Santiago reached yesterday after a walk of more than 16 kilometers.

Pride and happiness for having achieved it are the greatest reward for these particular pilgrims who wanted to public.Normalizing glucose measurements or insulin administration is also a pending work to make diabetes visible, suffering from 13.8% of people over 18, according to the 2018 data.

The Diabetes Foundation monitored the entire challenge during these days through its official website.Among the testimonies of the participants is a video of Mila, diabetics for fifteen years and belonging to the Araba Diabetes Association.Mila, whose treatment against the disease is to combine slow insulin with pills, ensures that the importance of the challenge is in "seeing the positive consequences of physical activity" in its organism and the impact, also positive, in the results of its measurements.With the dissemination of these testimonies they consolidate the motto of the challenge: with diabetes you can.

Joseba Miranda remembers that the most importantIt is that with this type of activities the work of diabetic associations to which, anyone can approach for what they need is known, since "information, orientation and education" about diabetes is offered there.

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