A Spanish father, José Maria Arroyo Sanchez, has pilgrimaged on foot to the Sanctuary of Fatima, in Portugal, to pray for “medical research on multiple sclerosis”, the disease from which his daughter Maria Belén suffers. He left Talavera de la Reina on 2 May and is due to arrive in Fatima on 11 May. News of his pilgrimage is carried by the Portuguese Catholic press agency “Ecclesia” which explains the reasons that prompted José Maria to embark on it: “A strong religious motivation and the intention to draw attention to the need for medical research on multiple sclerosis”. The “pilgrim of multiple sclerosis”, as he is called by those who meet him, has already been pilgrimaging for this purpose for three years. “I will continue to walk so long as God gives me the strength says Arroyo Sanchez and I believe He will give me the strength until they discover something to cure this disease that is still incurable”. After Fatima the “pilgrim of multiple sclerosis” will begin another two pilgrimages, again starting out from his home in Talavera de la Reina: on 25 May he will set out for Lourdes and on 10 June for Santiago de Compostela.
