ADVENTURERS

The adventurers who take part in the Pelayo Vida Challenge represent all those women who fight every day against the cancer they suffer from. The women who win a place in one of the Challenges have the great responsibility, for themselves and for all those patients, to show them that after cancer they can do thousands of things and that there is still a lot of life to be lived after the disease. Seeing these women climb the highest peak in Africa, cross the Atlantic, step into the cold Arctic or cycle in the Annapurna Valley proves that you can tear down any wall with a positive attitude.

Fears and doubts arise with cancer. Your head is in a frenzy and you have no rest, but you insist that this is not going to stop you. You start saying: "Always one more step. Yes, you can do it." You see that there are thousands of precious lives to live.

Nancy, 49, breast cancer

Born in Lugo
Tendering and Public Procurement Technician

The diagnosis of cancer shattered my life project, but now, almost two years later, I have managed to fit all my pieces into a puzzle with a very special shine.

Ester, 46, breast cancer

Born in Talavera de la Reina
Rehabilitation technician

The tragedy the word cancer imbued me with at the beginning became an opportunity to value, love, appreciate, improve and move on.

Miriam, 46, breast cancer

Born in Barcelona
City Council firefighter

Cancer brings you to a halt, shatters all your projects and makes you vulnerable, but it is up to you how you want to deal with it. Your attitude makes a difference.

Olga, 50, breast cancer

Born in Zaragoza
Head of Analytical Accounting Unit

The word cancer is scary, but I embraced it, it transformed me and taught me to live right now and enjoy life as if each moment were my last.

Pilar, 52, breast cancer

Born in Madrid
Executive Secretary

Cancer is a huge life lesson that makes you stronger, calmer, more patient, wiser ..., apart from teaching you to value LIFE as the wonderful gift that it is.

Ana, 49, breast cancer

Born in Madrid
Responsible for financial processes

The word cancer popped up in the middle of the pandemic. It paralysed me. I went back home, saw my daughters and said to myself: I'm going to get you and I'm going to do my best. A year later, I look at myself and feel that I am not the same. I see a woman with scars, but stronger, more determined and more eager to live every second than ever before. Ironically, cancer reconnects you to life.

Ana, 38, breast cancer

Born in Valencia
Headhunter

When my body went "I can’t", my mind countered "yes, you can". I trusted that I could, and I did indeed. Cancer taught me not only to live, but to feel alive.

Lourdes, 55, breast cancer

Born in Pamplona
Fitness and sports trainer

Rather than an illness, this experience has been the perfect opportunity to turn my life into the one I always dreamed of.

Natalia, 47, breast cancer

Born in Madrid
Operating theatre nurse

Learning that life is fleeting made me learn to live the present moment, to minimise non-essential things, to be grateful every day for having the opportunity to live and to discover that life is so beautiful, that the will to fight and improve yourself comes by itself.

Susana, 46, breast cancer

Born in Malaga
Civil servant

When I was diagnosed with cancer, I said: "Ok, here we go. Let us go for my personal Ironwoman, the goal being to reach the finish line at each stage."

María, 38, breast cancer

Born in Barakaldo, Vizcaya, Spain.
Head waitress as well as waiter and waitress trainer

The attitude with which you live your life is the only thing that is up to you. Smile, walk and do not stop.

Nuria, 45, breast cancer

Born in Teruel
Marine scientist

Because life goes on, not for everyone, unfortunately, but for those of us who are lucky enough, we start a new, more intense, valuable and conscious life. Now, from a distance, I can see that I was afraid to tell about it.

Marian, 48, breast cancer

Born in Elche
Architect

After cancer I learned to enjoy everything: the little things and the great, my loved ones, every single moment. Important stuff and ordinary things. The minutes and the weeks. Overcoming this taught me the meaning of LIVING.

Lorena, 39, breast cancer

Born in Cartagena
Environmental scientist

Cancer came like a hurricane into my life and knocked me down, it trampled on me, it removed my hair, but I fought with the support of my family and friends. In fact, I beat it. Not just once, but twice. It left my body full of scars that help me remember every day that life has to be lived.

Fátima, 55, breast and kidney cancer

Born in Jerez de la Frontera
Restorer of works of art

Surviving is not enough. How many of us survive on a daily basis thinking that we have our life figured out, until something happens and everything changes in the blink of an eye.

Rina, 44, breast cancer

Born in Mexico City.

You may feel tired from time to time, sometimes lonely, at times even almost crushed, but you can handle it, you have yourself, and it is time to fight for yourself.

Raquel, 38, breast cancer

Born in Madrid, she is an administrative officer by profession.

The greatest challenge is to defy yourself and go as far as your mind wants to take you, because suffering becomes effort and effort becomes victory.

Estrella, 39, breast cancer

Although she was born in Madrid, she feels from Extremadura all over.
She is a National Police officer and is stationed in Madrid.

One day you will realise that you are not just another survivor, but a warrior who never gave up.

Victoria, 48, breast cancer

This pharmacist was born in Madrid, where she lives with her family.

Accept what is happening to you. Cancer can give you a new perspective on your life, it provides you with opportunities and sets new goals. It teaches you to notice what is actually important.

Begoña, 52, breast cancer

This Madrid native is a media analyst at Kantar Media, where she works in the television department.

Overcoming challenges is the driving force that pushes me to get up, to improve day after day and to prove to myself that I set the limit to my dreams.

Felisa, 46, breast cancer

Born in Almería and a surveyor by profession, she is the first Andalusian to take part in the Pelayo Vida Challenge.

Rather than an illness, I call it my opportunity to change my life and turn it into the perfect place where I want to live.

Begoña, 45, breast cancer

Born in Madrid and living in Las Rozas, Community of Madrid.
Responsible for a technology coaching service for the elderly.

At first, it was hard for me to accept it, but then I saw that the path was full of life lessons.

Cecilia, 45, breast cancer

Born in Zaragoza and currently living in Utebo, Zaragoza province.
Administrative officer.

Falling down, getting up, shaking off the scratches, smiling and saying to life: here I go again!

Silvia, 46, breast cancer

Born in Madrid and living in Valdemoro, Madrid.
Administrative officer.

I decided to face cancer head-on as a brave warrior, discovering the best version of myself. I have fallen many times, but I get up with a smile.

Lorena, 31, breast cancer

Born and living in Cartagena, Murcia region.
Nurse.

You are not what you achieve, but what you overcome.

Noelia, 40, breast cancer

Born in Sabadell and living in Les Fonts de Terrassa, Barcelona.
Insurance agent.

I have always been very optimistic and have tried to look for the positive aspects of everything that happens to me, so travelling to the North Pole and having curly hair now are undoubtedly two rewards for having gone through cancer.

Micaela, 39, breast cancer

I have decided to set myself a challenge every year and what better challenge than to set foot in the inhospitable Arctic. I would like all those who are going through chemotherapy to think for a moment that they could be next.

Lorena, 35, Hodgkin's lymphoma

I want to experience it all, gather experiences that make me a better person, widen my soul and my heart. I want to feel the adrenaline of setting foot in the Arctic. I want to live.

Ana Belén, 35, breast cancer

Life gives you opportunities, and mine came at the very moment when I started to fight cancer. You have to fight for life, because you only get the one you have.

Esther, 38, breast cancer

I want to feel the cold on my face when walking on that steppe of snow and ice, with an effort that makes you feel your heart beating in your throat. I feel I can do it, even if I do not have superpowers, since cancer gave me a lesson.

Encarnación, 51, breast cancer

This challenge is tantamount to life for me. Life to keep fighting for what you want, to be able to reach a goal by defying your own limits, even when it seems you cannot take it anymore.

Susana, 42, breast cancer

Being able to do my bit for women like me who have had breast cancer, giving them a glimmer of hope, a simple thought that after cancer there is more life.

Marián, 44, breast cancer

There is something to celebrate every day, as every day is unique. I have a huge desire to live.

Carmen, 56, breast cancer

Some opportunities are worth taking, and I refuse to feel sorry for myself. I want with all my might to live again an intense experience with great travel mates. If you manage to overcome it, you will come out stronger.

Yolanda, 50, uterine cancer

I saw a group of women with cancer climbing Kilimanjaro. At that moment, I was overcome by a feeling that told me that I could also do one of these adventures and show the world that it is possible.

Patricia, 37, breast cancer

Sport also played an essential role in my daily journey. My sporting experience has helped me a lot in my treatment.

Carmen, 48, melanoma

The preparation and psychological experience of climbing the great mountains of the Himalayas is quite similar to a long and complex illness.

Rosa, 55, breast cancer

Medicines can heal our body, but what about the wounds of the soul.

Eva, 50, breast cancer

The weekend before surgery I was up in the mountains and I promised myself that I would come back there.

María, 40, breast cancer

Every day from the time of the surgery was for me one day less to go towards my recovery, and I clung to this positive thought.

Araceli, 48, breast cancer