Jacob in hospital in March.

Fifteen-year-old Jacob Cachia was studying for his ‘O’ levels when he started suffering from strong headaches that eventually led to him spending five months in hospital and undergoing three major brain operations.

The brave teenager survived and he and his family are now on a mission to share their story to help others.

The Sunday Times of Malta met the family at their Zabbar home. Jacob walked into the living room – while family dog Peanut barks in the background – wearing his red Angry Birds T-shirt.

“In hospital they called him the Angry Bird. He used to love playing the computer game and when he was in a coma we would tell him: ‘You are the angry bird killing the pigs’. And he remembered when he woke up,” his mother, Sarah, said as she sat near her husband Sammy and their 11-year-old daughter Chloe to tell their story.

On January 31 Jacob went to hospital because his headaches became dramatically worse. He was diagnosed with sinusitis and admitted to the ENT ward.

On the fifth day Jacob suffered a seizure. An MRI revealed that the right side of his brain was full of pus – bacteria had entered his brain through the sinuses.

He had an operation that included removing part of the skull. The surgeon told his parents there was a blood clot and substantial swelling so the removed piece could not be put back.

He began to recover, but over the next few weeks, he suffered two episodes of bleeding in the brain – one of them involving three bleeds at once – and had to undergo another two operations.

At one stage his family was told to prepare for the worst.

“That night I kissed him from head to toe… after the operation the monitor seemed to blurt ‘let-him-live’.

“I repeated the words in my head and he lived,” his mother said, adding that her husband was so angry at the circumstances that he could not bring himself to walk into the room.

When Jacob regained some strength he was moved to the neurosurgical ward. After spending two-and-a-half months in hospital he was moved to Karin Grech rehabilitation hospital, at St Luke’s Hospital, where he underwent rehabilitation for another two-and-a-half months.

“The progress was so amazing. On a Friday they were picking up his leg because he couldn’t lift it and, by Monday, he could walk down the corridor with some assistance,” she said.

Jacob left hospital on June 28 and is now having therapy to improve the movement in his limbs.

When the swelling goes completely he will have a titanium plate fitted in place of the missing part of his skull. He will sit for his ‘O’ levels next year after repeating Form 5.

I’m going to have a titanium plate. Mum calls me her superhero, Titanium Man

“I’m going to have a titanium plate. Mum calls me her superhero, Titanium Man,” he wrote in an open letter on Facebook that he recently sent to a boy facing a similar experience.

Jacob wrote the message after feeling down because his friends had received their ‘O’ level results.

His parents encouraged him to do something positive to feel better.

He wrote: “I woke up in the intensive therapy unit. I couldn’t even speak. I had pipes everywhere. I was so scared. I didn’t know what was going on... my mum looked terrible and even though she smiled at me I could see the pain in her sore, red eyes. It will get better. I am proof of that. Stay strong.”

The feedback he received on Facebook was phenomenal – more than 4,000 likes and countless positive comments – and this encouraged Jacob and his family to continue helping others.

“I’m sure God has Facebook,” his mother said, adding that it had helped her son immensely.

The family set up a Facebook support page and a closed group, both called Survivors Malta, to encourage survivors and their families to share their experiences to help others.

“Throughout this difficult experience we had a lot of support from friends and family, for which we are immensely grateful,” Ms Cachia said.

“But we craved the comfort of speaking to someone who had experienced something similar. I searched on Google but found nothing.”

She stressed that the Facebook page and group, or this interview, were not about gaining sympathy or publicity.

“We don’t want to give false hopes. We are here to be there for people who lived through the nightmare.

“You read, post and share inspirational quotes everyday on Facebook because you associate them with an event or episode in your life just as you do when you hear a song... now ask yourself what is the story behind that quote, the story behind that song, and magnify the impact it would have if you told it,” Ms Cachia said.

What did Jacob have?

Meningoencephalitis is the medical term for Jacob’s condition. This involves an infection in the meninges, that is the lining of the brain, as well as the brain itself, an ENT specialist said.

This is a very rare condition. The infection occurs when bacteria makes its way into the brain, which can happen following sinusitis or a nose fracture.