Maltese paraplegic meets life-saver after 35 years

It was an unforgettable moment for Martin Caruana as he came face to face with the woman who saved his life more than 35 years ago.

The meeting took place on the pier at Portarlington in Melbourne's western region, where Mr Caruana would have drowned were it not for the swift action of off-duty nurse Judy Stewart.

The event was broadcast on ABC TV in the programme Can We Help?

The 18-year-old lad was standing on the pier and despite warning bells decided to dive into the water below.

There was a loud thump as he dived and his head hit the sand. The bones in his neck broke and, as his body floated to the surface, he could not move his arms and legs.

Ms Stewart, who was 33 at the time, recalled how she had noticed the pale back of a young man lying face down in the water.

"At first we thought he must be snorkelling, but after 45 seconds or so I knew there was something wrong," she told Miki Perkins of The Age.

"I waded into the water, where a friend's son held Mr Caruana's head above the water. As the young man was towed ashore on a surfboard, I gave him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and stayed by his side until the ambulance arrived and took him to the Austin Hospital," she recalled.

Mr Caruana recalls hearing a female voice urging him to breathe and "I started to breathe for my life".

Mr Caruana had gone to Portarlington Beach with his parents and girlfriend on Australia Day in 1973. One of Melbourne's Maltese associations, the Tarxien Club, used to organise an annual picnic at Portarlington.

Hundreds of Maltese flocked to the beach-side resort to take part in the revelry. Various games were organised with folk singing as one of the big attractions.

Mr Caruana's late father known as Tal-Fwied from Ħamrun and his uncle, Salvu, used to play the guitar accompanying the folk singers.

In the years that followed the accident, Mr Caruana learned to live a full life. A Maltese social worker, Doreen Saliba, was another positive influence in his life. She helped him obtain a motorised wheel-chair, on condition he enrolled in a tertiary course.

He enrolled at the Victoria University of Technology (formerly Footscray Institute of Technology) and following some hard work graduated with a BA degree. Mr Caruana is half-way through writing a book about his experience at university and going through life in a wheel-chair.

He said that all this time he had a nagging thought at the back of his mind that he had never met and thanked his life-saver. This continued to prey on his mind until last year when he engaged the help of the TV programme to help him trace her.

They, in turn, sought the assistance of the Geelong Historical Society and researcher Darren Hutchison tracked down Ms Stewart. He now wants to introduce Ms Stewart to his mother, Lukarda, 87 known as Tar-Ravjul who hailed from Msida.