Dear LUPUS EUROPE Members,
Some of you already met Andreas Panteli, the 28 years old friendly chap that joined LUPUS EUROPE convention in Paris. Born and raised in Cyprus, diagnosed with Lupus when he was 20, he lived in 4 European countries (Cyprus, Greece, UK and Switzerland), always an active member of the local Lupus organizations.
After running his first Half Marathon a few months ago, Andreas decided to run a full one – 42,2km… and he did not pick “just a marathon”, but probably the most famous one – the New York Marathon, on November 6, 2016!
He decided to dedicate this marathon and its preparation to people living with lupus in Europe, saying “You will be my motivation in the last kilometers, when I won’t be able to feel my knees or muscles and will feel discouraged. It’s a win-win, right? Raise awareness and promote an active lifestyle for Lupus, as well as get the motivation I need to complete the race!”
In this partnership between us all and Andreas, he will train over the next 6 months, week after week to get ready for the big event, and then run the race till the end! But we all have our role to play, providing him support and encouragement, following him in his progress, cheering him up on facebook, and “running with Andreas”.
Each week, Andreas will dedicate his training to one specific LUPUS EUROPE Member, running for LUPUS ITALY, UK, ESTONIA, … During that week, his efforts and thoughts will go for that particular country, and he will really appreciate that country’s support, which we would like YOU, as country representative, to organise.
If a given week is better for your country, please let either LUPUS EUROPE’s secretariat or Andreas know, so we can plan accordingly! We will assign weeks on a First come, first served!
How you support Andreas during that week is up to you. It is a unique opportunity to build a local event, where you could “run with Andreas”, send him cheering messages, or offer any other support as a group. Of course, we will not ask each of you to run a full marathon, but it would be great if, each within our own limits, we can dedicate some running, waking or any exercise to Andreas, and let him know that, in support of his effort, we have run 422 meters or walked 4.22km, … or whatever else that make us move with him.
Andreas also suggested to use this opportunity to raise money for LUPUS EUROPE. Each of you, your members, friends, colleagues, can donate to LUPUS EUROPE’s cause through the paypal link provided on the event’s web page.
It could also be a great opportunity for Andreas to share his experience with each member country, if possible through a Video Call.
Can we please ask you to relay this project to your board, members and friends. You can follow Andreas’ progress on the BLOG (link here), and keep cheering him through his long preparation!
For LUPUS EUROPE
Alain Cornet
Secretariat
