In May 2005, dozens of teenagers with signs of Support stood guard at her door in the Virgen del Rocio Hospital in Seville, while haematologists saved the life of the professor. Lupe explains that she was diagnosed with the disease a year earlier, "after sixty days of Fair, when no one had a week to give me".

The José Carreras Foundation, through its REDMO (Registry of Bone marrow donors) programme, located a compatible German donor after it emerged that Lupe required a bone marrow transplant and had no compatible donor amongst her family members.

"We dont know him of course but at home we call him Hans and we drink to him at every family gathering", Lupe explains with the happiness that defines her. "We cannot survive without each other, that's the message. No one knows what will happen tomorrow. We should dress up and celebrate life every day. During the transplant process I had a year off so I was able to raise two of my grandchildren. I fed them, took them for walks...there was no other way, I had two options; die of disgust of cling to life." And so Lupe remains today: positive, studious, grateful, and strong.

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