Raymond Arrieta: “Don’t make me cry because I haven’t taken a step yet”

Humacao.- 14th Edition of Walk “Live With Raymond” What does an animator do? Raymond ArrietaFor patients Cancer Hospital of Puerto Rico This afternoon started with a different, special and personal twist for the comedian.

For the first time, Arrieta’s steps on the six-day journey are dedicated to someone in his family facing cancer. In his act thousands of people came knocking at his door with disease accompanying him. The comedian’s father, Ramon Arrieta, who suffers from cancer, the host of Telemundo’s “Raymond and his friends” program, dedicates to him the fourteenth edition that started today from the Marcelo Trujillo Panisse Coliseum in Humacao.

Yesterday, Arrieta revealed his father’s condition during an appearance on Telemundo’s “Tia a Tia” program, which he shared with his colleague Dagmar, who has battled cancer in the past.

The entertainer revealed that his father has undergone surgery and is receiving treatment and is in good spirits. But, his father laments, “He hasn’t been here in 14 years.”

A few minutes after starting the walk that started at 3:08pm, talking about my father caused a lump in my throat and a small sob that stopped immediately to control my emotions and not break down.

“Don’t make me cry because I haven’t taken a step yet,” Arrieta warned on a sideline with the media before beginning the walk.

Arrieta explained that “every person here has someone they’re walking by” and that this moment will be special to him “because I never imagined it would touch us.”

As in past editions, Arrieta remains emotionally empowered and curious at the same time, not knowing what the stories will be like along the way before exiting the event.

He knows that during this walk, he will receive expressions of solidarity and encouragement on several occasions in the face of his father’s situation. Recognizing that this can happen causes a collection of emotions to surface between tears.

“This morning I left the house and went to buy lunch in front of the house and the first thing someone said to me was blessing your father (crying). That was my lunch. But I have this (dots for glasses) and this is my trick. It will be a very emotional and tearful walk. The rise and fall of emotions. That hurts more than hip pain at six miles”, says the presenter, who wants to finish this edition and hopes that “with God’s grace” his father will participate in the 2023 walk.

Arrieta admits that in her walk of more than a decade, it takes psychological, emotional and physical strength that is sometimes broken by the thousands of stories from cancer patients and their families. However, neither he nor the thousands of people accompanying him were eliminated in this laudable achievement, as they all represented the fight against disease.

“The hardest thing is you don’t know what you’re going to run into. He was talking to (Hermes) Grotto, who has been telling him stories since he was 14 years old. A young woman once asked for an autograph and was going to take it to her mother who was in the hospital and when she got to the hospital her mother died of cancer. . “The girl came back with a shirt that said, ‘Mom I’m late, but I did it.’ They are strong stories and nobody cries. You have to learn to cry,” she said.

The presenter noted that the specific collection goal was not set to “don’t pressure me”.

Last year, between the epidemic and the six days of rain, in December, the pace was different, and they ended up with more than $1,800,000.

The “Day by Day” host also started the walk Alexandra Fuentes, Alex DJ, Hermes Croatto, Oscarito, Willito Otero and another group of volunteers among dozens of people who shouted his name. Cheerleader Alexandra Fuentes had the same collective cry. The exiting atmosphere is always given with great enthusiasm and confidence on the part of the walkers. It is a very emotional event.

Arrieta, in addition to dedicating the walk to his father, also dedicates it to Pedro Alicia, director of “Dia a Dia,” and to the late Ilia García Torres, president of the Puerto Rican Board of Directors. League Against Cancer and passed away on July 4.

The first day’s ride is 8.4 miles and ends at the Malecón de Naguabo. Those who hiked from the Marcelo Trujillo Panisse Coliseum in Hamcao should arrive tonight on Highway PR 3 heading east toward Naguabo.

Arrieta and his accompanying group will rest in the municipality and cover 10.2 miles on the route from Naguabo to Ceiba tomorrow, Thursday. Morning departures are from the Malecón de Naguabo on PR 3 in the direction of the city.

The walk will conclude on Monday, August 22nd with the last leg from Louisa to Carolina, covering approximately 9.4 miles.

The conclusion of “Da Vida Caminando con Raymond” will be in the parking lot of the Guillermo Ánguo Coliseum, where the walk will end and “Tia a Tia” will be broadcast from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm. , on Telemundo. A Metropolitan Bus Authority (AMA) route in the Carolinas will be affected on this day.

In this case, due to covid-19, there will be no nightly programming at arrival points.

Funds are raised through sponsors, the sale of shirts and hats at Me Salve and money collected on the street during the walk. Products are still available at Me Salvé stores.