Editor’s Note: This article was translated into English from Spanish; there may be inconsistencies or minor errors.
Sports and the fight against Dravet syndrome will once again go hand in hand this October through the charity challenge taken on by athlete Antonio González. He has set out to cross the Strait of Gibraltar with his team on a date yet to be determined between October 16 and 25, depending on changing sea, wind, and current conditions. Participants in this challenge plan to swim between 15 and 22 kilometers in open water, under the supervision of the ACEG (National Association of Sports and Recreation) and with the support of Maritime Rescue personnel. The initiative is part of the #SwimForDravet campaign that González, along with his collaborators Gonzalo Sedeño, Fernando Bueno and Juan Alberto Martín Moyano, have carried out to raise awareness and funds for research into this rare disease, characterized by refractory epileptic seizures (which do not remit with standard antiepileptic drugs), cognitive delay, sleep and speech problems, as well as gait and behavioral disorders, autism spectrum disorder, etc.
Furthermore, Antonio is thus seeking to pay tribute to Martina, a 9-year-old girl who died from severe epilepsy that was eventually identified as Dravet syndrome, which attests to the high degree of underdiagnosis that continues to exist of this pathology, which occurs in one in every 16,000 births and has a mortality rate of between 15 and 20% before the age of 18.
As part of this campaign, on June 1st, Antonio and his team participated in the Solidarity Strokes challenge at the Navalcarbón Sports Center pool in Las Rozas, symbolically swimming 25 kilometers (1,000 laps). The challenge was held in relays, with swimmers changing every 100 meters.
“SwimForDravet was born as a personal challenge to overcome difficulties and to highlight this cruel disease that affects children at such a young age,” says Antonio, who adds that “this challenge is my way of helping raise awareness of the struggle of these warriors and their families.”
To learn more about Antonio’s campaign or donate to his cause, please click here.
About Dravet Syndrome
Dravet Syndrome, a rare genetic disease also known as Catastrophic Epilepsy of Infancy, is characterized by epileptic seizures that begin in the first year of life and a series of comorbidities that usually appear later, such as cognitive delay, behavioral, sleep, motor and speech problems, and autism spectrum disorder. Mortality is high, reaching 15% before adulthood, mainly due to sudden death from epilepsy. It is caused by a mutation in a gene, SCN1A, and begins to manifest in the first year of life.
