Éric Abidal has been appointed ambassador of the Catalan Transplant Organization (OCATT), in a ceremony attended by the French player himself, the vice president of FC Barcelona Jordi Cardoner, the Minister of Health Antoni Comin and the Director of the OCATT, Jaume Tort.
This is a project by the Department of Health of the Generalitat de Catalunya, the OCATT, Éric Abidal Foundation and FC Barcelona, seeking to contribute to organ donation and increase transplants since ‘currently in Catalonia there are 1,260 people awaiting transplants’, said Tort.
The campaign managers have explained that the chosen as ambassador is Eric Abidal for the values he represents, for his example, his personal experience and social commitment.
Abidal, who was accompanied by his wife, said that ‘the gesture of donating organs can save lives. My cousin made the hardest act of his life, giving me a part of his liver and thanks to that we are here, living and enjoying life and our families. The decision to donate can help many people and children in need.’
Meanwhile, Jordi Cardoner thanked those responsible for the fact of relying on FC Barcelona, and has appointed out that, ‘on behalf of the president and all members of the board, this is your home and you will always have our and our people’s support’. Cardoner also thanked Abidal ‘because without you we would not be playing this donations match.’
The Minister Comín has made a footballing parallelism and said that ‘we are winning this organ donations match, but not strongly enough. We are still far from that 5-0 we would all like.’
