Standing-room only at funeral for Pablo Ráez, leukaemia patient behind viral campaign to drum up a million bone-marrow donors

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.

His diagnosis was in March 2015 and, by the end of that year, he had made a complete recovery thanks to the transplant, enabling him to resume his fireman and Transplant Games training.

But 10 months later, the leukaemia had come back and he needed another bone-marrow transplant, although the recurrence of the disease meant he could not use the same donor again, so his father was unable to provide the life-saving cells.

Pablo then launched a 'One Million Donor Challenge' campaign on Twitter and Facebook, in a bid to get a seven-figure number of people to donate bone marrow 'not for me, but for anyone who needs it'.

The campaign went viral, and Pablo explained the process in his posts, saying it was 'not at all dangerous' and not especially painful, and that the first stage was to complete a form and take a blood test to find out whether the potential donor's bone marrow was suitable for use in patients.

Tens of thousands of Twitter and Facebook users in several countries announced they had made bone-marrow donations as a result – and one of these was a woman in the USA, who was found to be a match for Pablo.

He underwent a stem-cell transplant in November 2016 at Málaga's Carlos Haya Hospital, and posted a video on Instagram during his week in an isolation chamber at the centre to thank all his supporters for their 'warmth' and 'lovely messages'.

But in January, Pablo was told during one of his twice-weekly check-ups that his system had rejected the bone marrow.

 

“It makes you want to throw in the towel, but I'm not giving up”

A blood test showed up 80% of his own cells and 20% of donor cells, when at that point after the transplant it should have been 'at the very least' the other way around, Pablo explained on Instagram on January 25, when he revealed he had not been online much lately as he was 'focusing his energy on trying to feel well'.

As a result of the transplant rejection, he was anaemic with a very low red blood-cell count, a severely-depleted immune system and was unable to produce his own red blood cells.

He underwent seven days of a type of chemotherapy known as 'hypomethylant', injected beneath the skin and much less aggressive than the type he received during hospital stays, in order to stimulate the bone marrow, and due to be repeated two weeks later, when a bone-marrow biopsy would be taken to see whether it had worked.

“If it doesn't, I'll have to have a lymphocyte infusion – a type of third transplant – from the American lady, my donor – to help the bone marrow 'stick', so to speak, and strengthen it, so it starts to work properly,” Pablo explained.

“The chemo has left me really tired; I've got a kind of bronchitis...I must admit, it's a tough moment, it makes you want to throw in the towel and not let yourself suffer any more, to rest at last forever...but I'm not giving up.”

On Saturday night, however, his physical weakness and broken immune system meant he could no longer fight, and he slipped away peacefully surrounded by his family.

In his posts, Pablo encouraged everyone to 'enjoy each day' and to 'love everything that forms part of life'.

His letter in August 2016 on his social networks, titled Siempre fuerte. Siempre ('Always strong. Always') was what first attracted the world's attention to him, and the white wreath on his coffin carries these wor