It was the best Christmas present a young man with serious scoliosis could hope for: Aaron Camilleri, 19, has just got news that a long-awaited operation to treat his condition, “which is getting worse by the day”, can go ahead in January.
“I am hopeful and frightened at the same time, as any other person would be... but there is more hope than fear as I have been waiting for this operation for three long years,” Aaron told Times of Malta yesterday.
This will be a risky operation, his mother Doreen said.
“However, he cannot really get worse than he already is, and if he does not go ahead with the surgery we’re still risking losing him if, God forbid, he gets worse and cannot breathe anymore.”
Born with spina bifida, Aaron was told three years ago he needed an operation. However, for the following two years, tests and the surgery itself kept being postponed.
When in October of last year he was finally sent to England for the much-awaited operation, the family was informed the surgery could not take place because of the boy’s high blood pressure.
A year later, his mother Doreen went public with his story on Facebook as she felt they were going around in circles.
Her son’s scoliosis had worsened to the extent that he sometimes slept sitting down as he had difficulty breathing.
After the young man’s story was picked up by the media, the government asked Mater Dei Hospital to look into the case. Aaron eventually underwent several health tests and the family was told to wait for the go-ahead from doctors to receive treatment abroad.
If he does not go ahead with the surgery we’re still risking losing him if, God forbid, he gets worse and cannot breathe any more
They were told they would be given a date three months beforehand, but when on Monday his father Pierre received an e-mail informing him the operation was set for January 21, they were over the moon.
Mr Camilleri called his wife from work to give her the good news and Ms Camilleri resorted to Facebook again, this time to let her family and friends know that Aaron’s wish was coming true in a month’s time.
It was, indeed, the best Christmas present for the whole family.
The third of 10 brothers and sisters, Aaron will be heading to England on January 20 after undergoing health tests at Mater Dei so that he would have ample time in case he needed to treat his blood pressure.
It will then take him a whole year to recover from the operation and his parents will not be able to lift him up for months.
“But we are sure the operation will be worth it, especially since Aaron was in a lot of pain lately. His condition has worsened by the day,” his mother said.