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PHOTOS: Sergio Betancort
It was her 40th birthday and she decided to celebrate it "in style" and in a very special way to "give thanks for still being alive", after being diagnosed with breast cancer. Laura Betancort from Lanzarote decided to turn her birthday party into a charity event and exchanged gifts for donations to the Association of Oncohematological Families of Lanzarote (AFOL). In total, 2,012 euros were raised.
It has been a year and a half since Laura Betancort was diagnosed with breast cancer. Since then, she began her fight against this disease, as she told La Voz in a report published four months ago. A fight marked by radiotherapy sessions, chemotherapy and the physical and emotional changes caused by the disease. Now, she explains, she only has two chemotherapy sessions left and "everything will be over in April." "I am recovering, there is little left and I feel full of life," says the Lanzarote native.
To "give thanks for still being alive" and also to thank "the support" she has received from friends and family in this long struggle, Laura Betancort decided to celebrate a very special 40th birthday that would also serve to help other people who are in her situation. "I needed in some way to thank people for the support and affection I have received and the best way was to offer them a party," says this woman, who says that the only thing she asked for her 40th birthday is not to have gifts and that these were replaced by donations to Afol, which were deposited in a collection box installed for the occasion. "I already have the best gift, which is being alive and I don't want anything else. For me, the things that were important no longer matter so much. And if I can help others in this way, I do it," she says.
Thus, what Laura also intended is to get people familiar with "the tremendous work" that Afol does. "There are many people who are having a bad time, who have just enough resources, because we are in a very delicate time and, really, why not help them?".
And so, under that premise, she organized a birthday party attended by about 200 people and with which she managed to raise a total of 2,012 euros, which have been donated to the Lanzarote association.
"It was 2,007 euros, but when I went to the bank I added 5 euros more, so that it would be 2,012, like the current year."
A "very emotional" night
The party, under the title of "40 Awards Laura`s Party?", took place on February 11 in a villa in La Asomada. "My birthday is on January 26, but then I was in treatment and had to postpone it," explains Laura Betancort. At the party, set as if it were an Oscar gala, with awards and red carpet included, nothing was missing. From music by El Golpito, a chocolate foundeé or a sushi making exhibition by a Japanese were some of the things that the party attendees enjoyed. And, if Laura was clear about something, it was that she wanted to celebrate her birthday "glamorous and fun".
"I sang and everything, and I don't know how, the song 'Color esperanza' by Diego Torres, which is a song that gives a lot of hope, that talks about that it can be done. And my son also sang to me," says Laura Betancort, of this night that for her was "very emotional." "Everyone told me that it was a night in which they were tired of crying, although I did not do it for that," says Laura. The awards, of course, for the family and for a friend, for all that they have supported her. "I want my battle buddies to see that this can be overcome", she concludes.
"Thanks to these things, we are subsisting"
The president of Afol, Carmen Arrocha, is very grateful for the donation received from Laura. "Laura is an excellent, wonderful person and we are very grateful to her, because that money is very good for us and she deposited it two days after the party," says Carmen Arrocha.
This money, along with other money raised from other events, such as the Zumba Fitness marathon, which was held on February 10 also for the benefit of the association, or the I Reiki Marathon, which will take place on March 10, will be used, according to Arrocha, to pay another worker for the association. "The Cabildo's budgets are not yet approved and we are asking for a subsidy, but we do not know what is going to happen and we have to find our means to ensure that resources are covered and guaranteed," says the president of Afol. "We are doing little things to raise money," she adds.
According to Arrocha, apart from the members of the association, about 170 according to herself, there are several donations that are received throughout the year. "There are donations, for example, from foreigners when they die, who do not want flowers to be put on them and put a collection box to raise money; families who are super grateful for the attention that has been given to their family member and contribute some money", she explains. "Thanks to these little things, we are subsisting," concludes the president of Afol.