Evelyn Vella Brincat opens the door to her Pembroke home with a big, welcoming smile and leads the way to her immaculate sitting room.
Seeing Evelyn today, it is difficult to believe that two years ago she was given eight weeks to live.
"Many people think I am joking when I tell them I have a terminal illness," she says pensively.
When she went in for a regular mammogram a few years ago, the last thing Evelyn was expecting was that she was suffering from breast cancer. And in fact, neither the mammogram nor the subsequent ultrasound found anything out of the ordinary, and the teacher and local councillor continued with her normal life.
Then, two years ago, while on council work in the UK, Evelyn started feeling very unwell. "All my body was aching. I could not pinpoint where I was hurting - the pain was all over."
Initially she thought it was the triple slip disk that she had just been diagnosed with, but as her health started getting progressively worse, she started to worry.
"I could not even put the seatbelt on, and whenever my husband moved in bed I would wake up screaming in pain."
Eventually she was feeling breathless and on her journey back to Malta she had to be helped up onto the plane.
"The night I came home I was in so much pain that I thought I was really going to die. I took some painkillers, said a prayer and went to sleep, thinking that this was it. It almost came as a shock that I was still alive in the morning. I was in so much pain that I needed relief."
Evelyn's brother is a surgeon and the minute he saw her he realised that something was wrong and immediately ordered a spate of tests. She was admitted to a private hospital where two years ago this week she was diagnosed with Her2 positive cancer, which had already reached stage four, the final stage.
"Although the cancer had started as breast cancer, it never manifested itself there, but went into the blood stream and attacked my spine, lungs, liver and heart."
Her brother had the horrible task of telling her that unless they treated the cancer very aggressively she only had some eight weeks to live.
"Suddenly I was faced with this horrible scenario. Thoughts were rushing through my head. The worse was that I would not see my daughter turn 18. Just some time before I had baked a cake for the daughter of a friend, who had died, to try and cheer her up on her 18th birthday. Now it was going to be my daughter who celebrated her 18th birthday without her mother.
"But at the same time, I had a very strong will to live and was all for attacking the cancer. After all, I had nothing to lose and everything to gain. Just a few extra months would be worth fighting for."
So Evelyn was put on a cocktail of drugs and chemotherapy, including the so-called miracle drug Herceptin. But all this did not come cheap, and if Evelyn's family had not dug deep into their pockets and helped her out financially, she would never have been able to afford the medication, which came with an exorbitant price tag of Lm26,000.
"I was prepared to fight for my life, even if it meant selling my house. It's a pity that certain medication, which can make such a big difference not only to the sick person's life, but to all those around her, is not given for free. Nobody's life should be put down to pounds, shillings and pence.
"When you are sick, all you want to concentrate on is how you are going to fight for your life and try to get better. Nobody needs to be worrying about where the money to save his life will be coming from. At the time even an extra month that I could spend with my family was important."
Although the Malta Community Chest Fund did help Evelyn out financially, this was not enough. "Even now, although the government gives me some medication which I inject subcutaenously, I am not given syringes, but have to buy them. It is very unfair."
Two years on Evelyn is a walking miracle and it is hard to believe that she has a terminal illness. "I live life to the full and try to enjoy every minute. I look at every little achievement with great pleasure and appreciate anything that comes my way. I gained two years, saw my daughter turn 18, my niece give birth and I have travelled to Dubai. I had to fight for all this, but also gained my independence again. I hate to think that if I did not find so much financial support, I might have been helped to die comfortably."
Yoga classes help survivors
SpeciaL yoga classes can significantly improve the quality of life and well-being of breast cancer patients - particularly those who are not taking chemotherapy - a new study shows.
A diverse group of low-income women participated in the study, Alyson B. Moadel of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York, noted in an interview. "Our patients really enjoyed the yoga classes, it was very well received by them," she said. "It really fit in with their own cultural interests."
There is mounting evidence that yoga can improve quality of life in both healthy and chronically ill people, Dr Moadel and her team point out in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, while quality of life may be particularly affected for cancer survivors who belong to ethnic minorities and other underserved minority populations.
To investigate whether yoga could help cancer patients and survivors feel better, the researchers randomly assigned 128 women to a 12-week yoga intervention or a wait list "control" group.
Classes were offered three times a week, and participants were urged to attend at least one class a week, and also instructed to do the exercises at home with the help of an audiotape. The Hatha yoga-based exercises had been developed especially for breast cancer patients by one of the study's authors, and were done while participants were either sitting in a chair or lying down.
During the course of the study, patients in the control group showed greater declines in well-being than women in the yoga group. When the researchers omitted patients undergoing chemotherapy from their analysis, they found that the women who did yoga showed improvements in quality of life; greater emotional, social and spiritual well being; and less distress.
People often feel fatigued and sick while undergoing chemo, Dr Moadel noted, which is likely why yoga didn't appear to be helpful for study participants on chemotherapy.
Just 69 per cent of the women in the yoga group actually attended classes, and those who did attended an average of seven during the course of the study. Study participants had many demands to cope with, from medical and health issues to taking care of family members, Dr Moadel noted, which may explain why many didn't make the classes.
Nevertheless, the women who did attend the classes enjoyed them, she added, and the more classes they attended, the more benefit they experienced.
However, she cautioned that breast cancer survivors should talk with their doctor before starting an exercise programme, and should only take classes specifically designed for them.
"I would not recommend a regular yoga class at a studio that is not geared or targeted to someone with cancer, particularly if they are undergoing treatment," Dr Moadel said, noting that breast cancer patients frequently have arm and shoulder problems that could be aggravated by some exercises.
Seeing Evelyn today, it is difficult to believe that two years ago she was given eight weeks to live.
"Many people think I am joking when I tell them I have a terminal illness," she says pensively.
When she went in for a regular mammogram a few years ago, the last thing Evelyn was expecting was that she was suffering from breast cancer. And in fact, neither the mammogram nor the subsequent ultrasound found anything out of the ordinary, and the teacher and local councillor continued with her normal life.
Then, two years ago, while on council work in the UK, Evelyn started feeling very unwell. "All my body was aching. I could not pinpoint where I was hurting - the pain was all over."
Initially she thought it was the triple slip disk that she had just been diagnosed with, but as her health started getting progressively worse, she started to worry.
"I could not even put the seatbelt on, and whenever my husband moved in bed I would wake up screaming in pain."
Eventually she was feeling breathless and on her journey back to Malta she had to be helped up onto the plane.
"The night I came home I was in so much pain that I thought I was really going to die. I took some painkillers, said a prayer and went to sleep, thinking that this was it. It almost came as a shock that I was still alive in the morning. I was in so much pain that I needed relief."
Evelyn's brother is a surgeon and the minute he saw her he realised that something was wrong and immediately ordered a spate of tests. She was admitted to a private hospital where two years ago this week she was diagnosed with Her2 positive cancer, which had already reached stage four, the final stage.
"Although the cancer had started as breast cancer, it never manifested itself there, but went into the blood stream and attacked my spine, lungs, liver and heart."
Her brother had the horrible task of telling her that unless they treated the cancer very aggressively she only had some eight weeks to live.
"Suddenly I was faced with this horrible scenario. Thoughts were rushing through my head. The worse was that I would not see my daughter turn 18. Just some time before I had baked a cake for the daughter of a friend, who had died, to try and cheer her up on her 18th birthday. Now it was going to be my daughter who celebrated her 18th birthday without her mother.
"But at the same time, I had a very strong will to live and was all for attacking the cancer. After all, I had nothing to lose and everything to gain. Just a few extra months would be worth fighting for."
So Evelyn was put on a cocktail of drugs and chemotherapy, including the so-called miracle drug Herceptin. But all this did not come cheap, and if Evelyn's family had not dug deep into their pockets and helped her out financially, she would never have been able to afford the medication, which came with an exorbitant price tag of Lm26,000.
"I was prepared to fight for my life, even if it meant selling my house. It's a pity that certain medication, which can make such a big difference not only to the sick person's life, but to all those around her, is not given for free. Nobody's life should be put down to pounds, shillings and pence.
"When you are sick, all you want to concentrate on is how you are going to fight for your life and try to get better. Nobody needs to be worrying about where the money to save his life will be coming from. At the time even an extra month that I could spend with my family was important."
Although the Malta Community Chest Fund did help Evelyn out financially, this was not enough. "Even now, although the government gives me some medication which I inject subcutaenously, I am not given syringes, but have to buy them. It is very unfair."
Two years on Evelyn is a walking miracle and it is hard to believe that she has a terminal illness. "I live life to the full and try to enjoy every minute. I look at every little achievement with great pleasure and appreciate anything that comes my way. I gained two years, saw my daughter turn 18, my niece give birth and I have travelled to Dubai. I had to fight for all this, but also gained my independence again. I hate to think that if I did not find so much financial support, I might have been helped to die comfortably."
Yoga classes help survivors
SpeciaL yoga classes can significantly improve the quality of life and well-being of breast cancer patients - particularly those who are not taking chemotherapy - a new study shows.
A diverse group of low-income women participated in the study, Alyson B. Moadel of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York, noted in an interview. "Our patients really enjoyed the yoga classes, it was very well received by them," she said. "It really fit in with their own cultural interests."
There is mounting evidence that yoga can improve quality of life in both healthy and chronically ill people, Dr Moadel and her team point out in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, while quality of life may be particularly affected for cancer survivors who belong to ethnic minorities and other underserved minority populations.
To investigate whether yoga could help cancer patients and survivors feel better, the researchers randomly assigned 128 women to a 12-week yoga intervention or a wait list "control" group.
Classes were offered three times a week, and participants were urged to attend at least one class a week, and also instructed to do the exercises at home with the help of an audiotape. The Hatha yoga-based exercises had been developed especially for breast cancer patients by one of the study's authors, and were done while participants were either sitting in a chair or lying down.
During the course of the study, patients in the control group showed greater declines in well-being than women in the yoga group. When the researchers omitted patients undergoing chemotherapy from their analysis, they found that the women who did yoga showed improvements in quality of life; greater emotional, social and spiritual well being; and less distress.
People often feel fatigued and sick while undergoing chemo, Dr Moadel noted, which is likely why yoga didn't appear to be helpful for study participants on chemotherapy.
Just 69 per cent of the women in the yoga group actually attended classes, and those who did attended an average of seven during the course of the study. Study participants had many demands to cope with, from medical and health issues to taking care of family members, Dr Moadel noted, which may explain why many didn't make the classes.
Nevertheless, the women who did attend the classes enjoyed them, she added, and the more classes they attended, the more benefit they experienced.
However, she cautioned that breast cancer survivors should talk with their doctor before starting an exercise programme, and should only take classes specifically designed for them.
"I would not recommend a regular yoga class at a studio that is not geared or targeted to someone with cancer, particularly if they are undergoing treatment," Dr Moadel said, noting that breast cancer patients frequently have arm and shoulder problems that could be aggravated by some exercises.