The Arona Council has paid tribute to a daughter of the municipality, Dácil Martín Cuff, the pioneer of the free transport for cancer patients to hospitals in Santa Cruz and La Laguna who died in 2015 aged just 34, by naming the access road to emergencies of the Hospital del Sur after her.
The presentation took place yesterday with the mayor of Arona, José Julián Mena, and councillor José Alberto Delgado, president of the Honours and Distinctions Commission, who unveiled a plaque in her honour, which bears the inscription "She valued every day of her life, appreciated the small things, kept moving forward and then inspired the people around her."
Mayor Mena said, “Her fight against cancer went much further because she changed the way people think. Without her, the free transport service for cancer patients would not exist, and it was vital for the town halls to subsequently adopt it. Dácil Martín Cuff is present in all of us and in the heart of Arona”.
Cuff was a pioneer in free transport for cancer patients to hospitals in the north of the island with the so-called ‘Kilometer 0’ program, which began with its own vehicle after joining the Spanish Association Against Cancer. This transfer usually costs patients 240 euros per person, which is unaffordable for many of them.
Dácil Martín Cuff received various awards for her work and dedication to the cause. In 2014, the South Tenerife Friends Forum awarded her the FAST Solidarity Award, and the Spanish Association Against Cancer and the Tenerife Cabildo posthumously awarded her the 2015 Solidarity Award, in recognition of her outstanding voluntary work.
