Saturday 4th February is World Cancer Day. This disease is a major cause of mortality worldwide. The World Health Organization estimated that in the absence of any intervention, 84 million people will die of cancer between 2005 and 2015.
At the University of Alicante, we want to remember this day with the spot recorded by our female football team, which shows a true story of overcoming the disease.
“Juntas contra el cáncer” (Together Against Cancer) is the motto of the spot that the University of Alicante and the Spanish Association Against Cancer presented on the campus of San Vicente del Raspeig. The spot, titled El Reto (The Challenge), has been made by the Alicante production company El Taller Visual, creator of the audiovisual collection of the University of Alicante's women's football team. According to the head of the production company, Francisco Mogica, "the video deals with the story of two women facing two big challenges and it ends with a message saying there is a challenge that is worth fighting and defeating the disease". This has been made possible with the collaboration of Sofia Castellote, a young woman who after several years battling cancer, was able to successfully overcome it, and Aida Pastor, a player of the University of Alicante's female football team, who this year succeeded, along with hers player mates, in the ascend to the first division. Aida, has ended the Teacher's Education Graduate Programme and she is about to complete her studies in Psychology and Sofia has studies engineering, both at the University of Alicante.
For the voice-over, we count on the participation of the voice actress Nuria Mediavilla, who dubs actresses such as Jodie Foster, Naomi Watts, Cameron Diaz, Helena Bonham Carter, Angelina Jolie and Uma Thurman among others. In her presentation, the UA Vice President for Extracullicular Activities, Josefina Bueno, said that both Mediavilla and other actors, technicians and staff who have participated in the productuion of this video, did it in a completely altruistic way.
The spot is part of a series of awareness activities carried out by the UA and the AECC (Spanish Association against Cancer) and began with the incorporation of the Association's logo on the shirt of the UA female football team coinciding with their promotion to the First Division. The last of the joint actions taken was the benefit concert offered by the University of Alicante's Philharmonic Orchestra in the ADDA, with great attendance. The goal is to capture and disseminate the commitment of both institutions in the fight against cancer. According to the Chairman of the Spanish Association against Cancer in Alicante, Pablo Enriquez, "the Association was created to help people and try to make patients live better and what's better than to have the support of young people and the place where science was born to achieve our mission".
The video is available on the youtube channel of the UA women's football team.
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