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OceanMan for Javi: Together against cancer

We are sharing the moving text and call for action by Alberto Rivas (EMBA 20), Luis San Gil (EMBA 20), and Pepe Cano (EMBA 24) as a posthumous tribute to Javi López Mariño (EMBA 20)
Javi Lopez

In recent days we have received very sad news that has moved us all. Cancer has taken our classmate Javi López Mariño (EMBA 20), who was only 36 years old and had his entire life ahead of him.

Just a few hours before he left us, some classmates had the opportunity to see him, talk to him, and hug him one last time. In that conversation, which we will always recall fondly, Javi told us that he had been very happy at Esade with all of us, and that it was a wonderful time in his life. When it was time for us to leave, he looked at us, moved, and with hardly a breath left told us “Always stay together.”

As you know, Javi was a very vital person, involved with sports and especially swimming from a very young age. His last major race was OceanMan, just a few weeks before he was diagnosed with cancer. It was a 10K race which he eagerly prepared for, and it was particularly meaningful for him. In his final farewell, his family wanted to place next to him a photo in which he celebrating his completion of the race. It was a gesture filled with life, so it fittingly represented Javi.

Many of us have felt sad that we were unable to be closer to him to support and encourage him at the hardest times, but we believe that even though he is no longer with us physically, we would love to pay tribute to him with something that was very special to him.

Javi

This is why we would like to transform this last message he gave us into a tribute that is connected to his very essence. It consists of swimming the OceanMan race together in his honor and turning it into a collective challenge open to all of you, which brings together three purposes we believe are essential:

1. Paying tribute to Javi by doing what he loved

We will swim for him and try to complete the entire distance, and we’ll do this as an act in his memory. It would be wonderful if anyone who wants to would join this tribute. There are categories with shorter distances (10K, 5K, 1.5K, and 500m), but what matters is not the distance but the gesture. We are convinced that he would be thrilled from above to see us all in the water, together for him.

2. Raising money for the struggle against cancer

We would like encourage a small gesture for a big cause, in his name, and according to each family’s ability. We will open up a totally transparent donation webpage where the funds will be wholly earmarked to the struggle against cancer.

3. Fulfilling his wish for us to stay together

We want this challenge also be a chance to meet up again in remembrance of Javi. It will be a shared weekend, May 9 to 10, with a thrilling experience that brings us all back together again. Of course, we’ll share this initiative with Javi’s family with the utmost respect so they can join us if they wish.

 

Let’s swim for him. Let’s raise money for those who need it and stay together, as Javi asked us to.

Javi Lopez
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