Sarah Cachia was at Mater Dei Hospital’s café, wearing a Survivors Malta T-shirt, when she met a couple whose son was having surgery and told them about their support group.

“The woman told me she had just been telling her husband no one knew what they were going through.

“I told her I was in her shoes a year-and-a-half ago,” said Ms Cachia whose son, Jacob, survived a rare brain infection.

One mother had just been telling her husband that no one knew what they were going through – 18 months ago I was in her shoes

When Jacob, now 16, pulled through, the Cachia family set up the Survivors Malta Facebook support group, which is aimed at helping families going though difficult experiences by sharing stories of survival.

The group held its first official campaign at the hospital’s reception area last week.

Volunteers gave out flyers and red love-heart balloons to families visiting sick relatives and friends, sending them a message from Survivors Malta to never give up.

Jacob himself was one of those patients; the other day he had an operation to correct a deviated septum to avoid future risk of brain infection. The operation went well. Ms Cachia described the week-long campaign as a success, adding that she was already thinking about next year’s event.

“We even distributed flyers in the car park. What impressed me was returning to the car park hours later to find some cars were still there. They were probably the relatives of people in intensive care,” she said.