Merche's example, one of the lucky ones from the Marbella bar: "Never lose hope, everything is possible"

The Christmas Lottery draw this Monday has brought a shower of millions to Marbella, on a sunny day when the residents of Las Palmeras and the customers of the bar El Leonés held an impromptu party to celebrate the winning of El Gordo, with more than 300 tickets sold at the hospitality establishment, according to its owner.

Merche Moreno is one of those neighbors for whom luck has smiled this festive Monday. She was on the bar's terrace at noon celebrating her lottery win and mentioned that the owners were like "brothers" to her.

The woman commented that this morning she was with her husband "sitting in the living room watching the lottery, like everyone else, with churros and chocolate," when "suddenly the first prize came up, I saw the number and said no, it can't be," starting to "tremble."

"When I grabbed the number and saw what it was, I started screaming with my children sleeping and I ran to wake them up," she recounted, visibly moved after confirming that her ticket was El Gordo with the number 79.432, awarded 400,000 euros per ticket.

Moreno shared that she has been "battling leukemia with chemotherapy for seven years," emphasizing that she is "wonderful," though she took the opportunity to ask the public to donate bone marrow or money to fight the disease.

"This is the best thing that can happen to us, to live, to wake up in the morning and enjoy the day. And on top of that, to win the Lottery, I am not just thrilled, I'm beyond," she described about her mood on the day of celebration. "Never lose hope, everything is possible," she added, noting that "doors always open and it could happen to us."

At the same time, she made a call for awareness among the population about the disease she suffers from: "Donating is not hard, it's not painful. Donate marrow because you can save many lives, and leukemia is like the lottery, it can go well or it can go badly," explained this Marbella resident.

"Donating marrow helps a lot of children but we adults have a disease, and don't think we are well every day, because there are days we can't even get up," Moreno continued, emphasizing that "we have to find strength from wherever we can, especially for the loved ones around us, who suffer the most seeing us like this."

Originally from Madrid and raised in Brussels, Moreno has lived in the coastal city for 40 years since marrying a man from Marbella and has been a customer of El Leonés bar for 35 years. Thus, she will use the prize to help her three children, with the eldest studying in Jerez. She will also dedicate part to cancer "research," she mentioned.