Hope and courage

Tricuspid atresia may be quite a medical mouthful - and it is understandable considering only a couple of children are born with the condition in Malta and the oldest surviving patient is in his late 30s.

Pink magazine, which is distributed with The Times tomorrow, identifies the youngest - a five-month-old - one of the few unfortunate babies, who already underwent two open-heart surgeries three weeks into his life to try and fix what is described as a form of univentricular heart.

In a sufferer of tricuspid atresia, the right ventricle, the chamber that pumps blood into the lungs, does not form properly, rendering it useless.

But not all is lost, and Pink follows the plight of a mother and her newborn, battling against the condition and doing well. They can draw courage from another sufferer, who has recently had her own baby, and whose story of hope is also related in Pink's focus feature.

Hope is also evident in the story of the elderly couple who decide, on their own initiative, to leave their house of 50 years and move into an old people's home; and the spinster, who sacrificed her life caring for her mother, and even experienced a sense of guilt before admitting she had to sign her into a residence.

Malta's first women's magazine has always steered clear of feminism, but inspired by Women's Day earlier on in the month, it digs out the softer side of the Women's Study Group.

The ladies that form it explain the relevance of feminism today, while answering quirky questions that break down any bra-burning stereotypes.

Then there are the bra-baring girls, who unashamedly strip for Pink to expose the varying shapes and sizes of their breasts and talk about their impact on their lives.

They are not shy to show off their bodies and it is refreshing to see that, despite the mushrooming of aesthetic clinics around the island, which is highlighted in the beauty section, some women do love themselves just the way they are.

Pink's fashion model also has reason to like herself as she shows off the season's pastel colours that are sure to take the spring by storm. They carry on into the accessories page, which serves up some more eye candy.

Pink is also packed with party pictures, history, health, humour, horoscopes, food, fitness, books and more to take readers through the long weekend ahead.

Published by Allied Newspapers Ltd and printed by Progress Press, Pink's executive editor is Fiona Galea Debono. It is produced by MediaMaker and designed by Helen Cassar Torreggiani and Joseph Schembri.