“When a disease is typified as a minority, you are screwed”

Former Spanish footballer and coach Juan Carlos Unzué said that never in his life “had he belonged to a team with so many teammates” and that although Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) in Spain is already well known, it is necessary for “politicians to get down to business”, in the presentation of his biography ‘A full life’ (Geoplaneta) this Thursday at the Rafael del Pino in Madrid.

“We have colleagues who are confined and there are many others who want to encourage him and who want to show what we feel and what we believe should change”, Unzué pointed out, in addition to emphasizing that there is an approximate number of four thousand patients with this disease in the country.

The former goalkeeper of clubs such as Osasuna, Barcelona and Seville, also stated that the lack of aid hinders situations such as payment to caregivers and the reforms that must be made in the homes of patients for their adaptation. “If we add to that the bureaucratic stress, it turns out that we have to go through months through a medical court to be given disability,” he added.

“To the media, that you continue to give continuity to the diffusion, not only for me but because it shows what the collective feeling is. We have taken the first step and I think it was the basis, to inform”, Unzué highlighted, who was also the former technical director of teams such as Numancia, Celta de Vigo and Racing de Santander.

Ramón Besa, one of the co-authors of the work, spoke about the situation of people with ALS and pointed out that “When a disease is typified as a minority, you are screwed”, in addition to urging people to “serve as members of the anti-ELA team” to spread the word about what can be done and how this disease can be fought.

The profits collected from the sales of this work will be used for ELA research through the Luzón Foundation, entity that collects funds for this purpose and allocates them to scientific teams.

Also present at the event were Marcos López and Luis Martín, other co-authors of the book, as well as the executive president of the Luzón Foundation, Maria José Arregui.