• When sportsmanship tastes better than a podium: "I stopped, he deserved it"

“Everything arises as a result of what happened in

Santander

and the impact it had.

One day someone said to me: Wouldn't you like to take advantage of all this impact and the image you've created to do something you've always wanted to do? "

And

Diego Méntrida

, of course, said yes, of course.

Of course, he would love it and he thought that what he had always wanted to do was what he had been doing since he could remember: helping his brother Carlos.

Diego, for those who do not remember, is a 21-year-old triathlete from Alcobendas, who in September, in the Santander triathlon, starred in a gesture that went around the world, giving third place on the podium to

James Teagle

, who he had lost it in the last corner of the circuit when he got confused in direction.

It was one of the scenes of 2020 in the world of sports.

An act of fair play that was picked up and valued by the media of half the planet.

Carlos, his brother, is 23 years old and suffered

from West Syndrome as a

child

, a rare disease that leads to multiple pathologies.

In his case, autism and drug-resistant epilepsy that make him a totally dependent person 24 hours a day.

Now, forever and for the rest of his life.

All the aforementioned converges since January 1 in Running for West, a virtual solidarity race promoted by Méntrida to raise funds for the

West Syndrome Foundation

, which helps children who suffer from this rare disease and to give it visibility.

The mechanism is simple for anyone who wants to collaborate: go to the website

www.runningforwest.org

and buy a number by making a donation to the cause, each of the amount you want.

And, in case there were doubts, Méntrida clarifies them: "You don't have to run if you don't want to, the only important thing is the gesture and collaborating with this cause."

Disease without cure

He has lived with West Syndrome all his life.

His brother began to suffer from it when he was about to be born.

It is a disease that has no cure, so the funds are used to make life easier for those who suffer from it.

«The Foundation does activities such as camps so that they have fun and the parents can rest.

The funds will also be used to train more professionals.

They are very vocational people but they have to have training to know how to treat them and how to manage different situations, "he explains.

Because the attention that kids like

Carlos

require

is continuous.

«He has behavioral disorders, sometimes aggressiveness that he cannot control, very sudden changes in behavior ... He cannot be alone at any time.

Even if you are with him at home, he can be left alone in the kitchen and collapse, because you do not know when he can have a crisis.

You have to be glued to it all day.

I have breakfast with him, because if he doesn't get angry, then he goes to a day center until 5:00 p.m. and in the afternoon a girl comes home to attend to him, ”he explains.

One of the problems with this disease that one in 100,000 people suffer from is that it manifests itself in many different ways.

There are cases like that of Carlos, others of children who lose mobility or the ability to speak and even, in a minimal percentage, that of people who after suffering it can develop a practically normal adult life.

As the protagonist of the virtual race, Carlos will keep number 1. Number 2 will be for Diego.

And on the 3rd, for

James Teagle

, the other protagonist of his viral gesture in the Santander triathlon, who is also going to get involved in the virtual race.

Méntrida trusts that famous people will collaborate who in his day echoed his gesture in Santander.

And one above them: “It would be incredible if

Will Smith

would dare to give us a hand, he is a speaker that reaches 50 million people.

We have proposed it to him, I do not know if it will reach him directly, because there are many intermediaries.

It would be fantastic.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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