Leah Xuereb, the four-year-old cancer fighter who underwent life-saving treatment last year, has had to return to hospital but is recovering well and looking “fantastic”, according to her parents.
As always you have to be strong, taking it day by day
In November, Leah had won the nation’s hearts when her parents made a plea through The Times to fund her treatment for a rare form of cancer in a specialised Texan hospital after treatment in London failed.
It was funded by the Maltese Government and local media gave regular updates on her progress.
Leah then returned to Malta just a few days before Christmas to the delight of her brother Owen, her grandparents and all those who had helped her.
The little girl “filled the house again” according to her aunt Josefa, but the family was in for some bad news on New Year’s Eve when they were informed that cancer traces had been detected in her body.
“Our happiness lasted a couple of weeks. We had been warned this could happen after the big operation. The scan results had given the all clear, but when the cancer trace marks rose, we were devastated,” her mother Zhana Xuereb told The Times yesterday. In fact Leah started chemotherapy at Mater Dei Hospital a week later and is still undergoing treatment.
“But as always you have to be strong, taking it day by day, and she is doing very well now. She looks healthy and cheerful.
“Although we do have to go to hospital for check-ups, treatments and tests every day, we can return home and spend the rest of day out of the hospital,” Ms Xuereb said, adding that the Rainbow Ward staff had been “very supportive and professional”.
Leah’s father Jonathan has also commended the aftercare provided in Malta, describing it as “amazing”.
Mr Xuereb expressed relief that the treatment was much less aggressive than the one his daughter had before the operation, and the cancer traces were diminishing substantially.
He hoped good news would keep flooding in, and again thanked the Maltese and Gozitans for their prayers and support.
In the meantime, Leah has been to school twice since she returned from the US, and her mother described her elation when Leah’s schoolmates surrounded her and hugged her tight when they saw her.