There are few people (or not enough) who selflessly roll up their sleeves without a second thought to help someone in need. Rafael Lesmes (Las Palmas, 1959) is one of them. This 64-year-old Canarian adventurer is currently competing in his fourth Dakar. It is always special to participate in this test, one of the toughest in the world. But since last year, Rafael is even more excited. Because? Because it was in the 2023 edition that the Dakar for Life project began, whose mission is, on the one hand, to convey the message that early detection of breast cancer saves lives and, on the other, to give visibility to the pathology in men. , a reality “very unknown and which translates into diagnoses of the disease in advanced stages,” explains Lesmes by telephone to this newspaper from the same dunes of Saudi Arabia, where a new edition of the test began on January 5. Last year the project focused on giving visibility to the disease. This year they plan to take one more step: raise funds to address it.
The germ of the Dakar for Life began to take shape in 2022. It was at the time when Lesmes – who has been collaborating and volunteering for years with the Canary Islands foundation Carrera por la Vida, which fights for the early detection of breast cancer – He considered participating in the Dakar again (he had done so in the 2004 and 2007 editions). That's when he had the idea of using that unbeatable setting to send a message of awareness about the disease. He shared the idea with the president of the foundation and she immediately agreed, so they entered the 2023 edition.
The result at a social level could not have been better. “It was amazing, I was shocked when I saw all the displays of support and affection,” Lesmes acknowledges. “I still get emotional today when I remember it,” he adds. They were less fortunate in the sports section (they participated at the wheel of a buggy): they were forced to abandon. “From the prologue stage until we retired after seven days of competition, everything went terribly wrong: breaks, breakdowns… a real disaster.”
In this year's edition, and with still six stages left (including today's, which is the 7th) to finish the test, they are still in competition. And they do it not on board a buggy, but on a truck (Mercedes brand) weighing 10,000 kilos and 700 horsepower. “We have even dared to paint it pink. It is the pink elephant that crosses the dunes,” explains Lesmes himself.
Beyond brand new vehicles, they also incorporate new travel companions. In addition to the logos – already present in 2023 – of the Carrera por la Vida Foundation and Think Pink Europe (a foundation that brings together breast cancer associations from 27 European countries), this year the truck sports that of INVI, the first association in male breast cancer of Spain.
The news does not end there. In this edition of the Dakar they add a new challenge: raising funds to fight against the pathology. In this sense, they have launched a crowdfunding campaign - through the migranodearena platform and which will be valid until January 19, the date on which the test concludes - to support two projects linked to the Carrera por la Vida e Foundation. INVI.
The former are at the forefront of the Pink Mind initiative, which aims to raise funds for the creation of a psychological care office for people, and their families, who are diagnosed with breast cancer. The latter are seeking funding to develop oncological research (called the Arderne project and led by Geicam) that aims to carry out a genetic and molecular characterization of the tumor in men that leads to a clinically relevant classification, evaluating and improving the predictive and prognostic capacity. “I feel very honored to be the ambassador of many people who are very involved in helping,” says Lesmes.
If there is anyone with a chance of taking the pink elephant to the finish line, it is him. With this, he has four Dakars under his belt. In the 2007 edition he managed to finish, reaching the mythical pink lake of Senegal, an emblematic point where the test ended (in most editions) when it was run in Africa. Lesmes belongs to the small group of adventurers who have been lucky enough to have experienced the two great world events of motor sport and adventure: the Camel Trophy (which is no longer contested) and the Dakar. “They are both very hard,” he concludes.
