THOUSANDS of friends, family members and local residents turned out to Marbella's La Encarnación church yesterday (Sunday) to bid farewell to Pablo Ráez, a young leukaemia patient who became famous worldwide for trying to encourage bone-marrow donation.
Pablo, 20, passed away after a battle which restarted in the autumn following a 10-month remission, during which time he was training to represent Spain in the 2017 International Transplant Games.
Marbella town council has declared two days of mourning – yesterday and today (Monday) and, in the meantime, thousands have already signed a petition on Change.org for the local authority to name a street after the brave youngster.
Nationally-famous actor Dani Rovira, who met Pablo in hospital, paid tribute to him on Twitter, saying, “I love you with all my soul.”
He was due to have been the flag-carrier at the Transplant Games, held in Spain for the first time this year in late June, in his home provincial capital of Málaga.
His messages were always full of hope and happiness, and he was always smiling on his photos and videos.
'One Million Donor Challenge'
Pablo was training to be a firefigher when, at age 18, he was diagnosed with leukaemia and underwent several sessions of chemotherapy followed by a bone-marrow transplant, donated by his father who was found to be a match.
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