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Apr 24, 2008 5:52 pm US/Central
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Chicago Fire Player Defending Kids Against Malaria
Mosquito-Borne Illness Is The Leading Cause Of Death Of Children Worldwide
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
World Malaria Awareness Day is Friday and one Chicago Fire player is doing what he can to make a difference.
Diego Gutierrez's full-time job is anchoring the Fire's defense, but his full-time crusade is battling the war on malaria, the number one killer of children worldwide.
Gutierrez and his wife, Ginna, are saving lives by helping combat malaria in Africa.
"Every 30 seconds a child is dying. It is that urgent," Diego Gutierrez said. "One child dying is too much; 3,000 a day is hard to conceive."
So as parents of three young kids, it motivated Diego and Ginna Gutierrez to become part of the Nothing But Nets Campaign. They're raising money to buy bed nets for children who live where mosquitoes carry malaria.
"Just being a mother, I think how can I go to bed knowing my child might die from a mosquito bite at night?" Ginna Gutierrez said. "That resonated with us in a big way."
In December, they traveled to Mali, Africa to deliver more than 2 million bed nets and educate people about the disease.
"We had the opportunity to see first hand, to see children dying, mothers grieving… for my wife and I it really lit a fire and it continues to burn," Diego Gutierrez said.
"We saw the good, bad and the ugly," Ginna Gutierrez said. "I held a child 4 years old that weighed 10 pounds. For me that still haunts me. However I knew we were there as part of the solution."
Ginna and Deigo Gutierrez helped Nothing But Nets raise $8 million last year. They say they will go back to Africa every year until children stop dying of malaria.
"It's important to see real people like us delivering beds nets over there and asking people to give $10 and seeing that we are really making that difference," Ginna Gutierrez said.
"This will go beyond my playing days hopefully 10, 5 years from now malaria no longer will be a problem and we will go on to a different cause," Diego Gutierrez added.
At this Saturday's Fire game, if you donate to the Nothing But Nets program, players from every major league sports team in the city will be on hand to sign autographed pictures as a thank you. For more information go to
nothingbutnets.net.
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