Leah’s story – recounted by her mother Zhana – will live forever in a book (bottom) that will be sold in aid of Puttinu Cares. Main photo: Paul Spiteri LucasLeah Xuereb’s story is one of great loss, but it is also one of great love, which her mother, Zhana Xuereb, has documented in a new book about the little girl’s tribulations and big smile.
Leah passed away in March, aged six, after a long battle with a rare form of cancer.
The little fighter secured a special place in the nation’s heart three years ago, when her parents, Jonathan and Zhana, made a plea through this newspaper to provide financial aid for her treatment.
Following treatment funded by the government in a specialised US hospital, she returned to Malta for Christmas.
But, in January 2013, she had to return to Mater Dei Hospital for chemotherapy.
Leah soldiered on and eventually started ballet and Year 1 classes at the Għajnsielem Primary School. On March 12, she received her First Holy Communion and Confirmation. But that was the last day Leah walked.
With a smile on her face, she took her last breath lying peacefully in bed between her parents two weeks later.
However, her story – recounted by her mother – will live forever in a book that is to be sold in aid of Puttinu Cares.
Published by Kite Group and written with the help of Maria Mifsud, the book, called Leah, will be launched on October 29. The book can be pre-ordered from today on www.kitegroup.com.mt and all the proceeds will go to Puttinu, which stood by the little one in the past years.
The ordeal started in 2011, when her parents were told by a paediatrician that something was very wrong.
“These words were like an arrow shaft straight to my heart, and when I heard them I started crying desperately. “From that moment on, my life took a complete different direction. I was traumatised,” Ms Xuereb says in the book.
As they waited for a bed to be made available at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, not knowing what was wrong with Leah, the two-year-old doubled in weight without eating at all.
“Coping was difficult. Everything was spinning around us and we did not know what we were going to do.”
In her publication, Leah’s mother lists every thought that went through her mind throughout the emotional journey: “I did not smoke or drink, for heaven’s sake. I exercised regularly, swam, and had a good balanced diet.
“Leah had had everything sterilised until she was one-and-a-half years old. Her clothes were always washed in a separate washing machine that we had purchased solely for that purpose.”
But the book is also about remembering Leah at her happiest, which Ms Xuereb says was easy, because she had many happy moments.
Gozo Bishop Mario Grech, who penned the introduction to the book, notes that readers will in fact, encounter the fortitude with which Leah’s relatives accompanied her throughout.
“Where many would only see life’s harsh absurdity in front of a person who has to face cancer at such a tender age, instead they accepted this difficult reality and embraced it, transforming what would otherwise have been a pitiful story into one of kindness and love.”
We should thank the Lord for every child cured.
Although her life was short it was still precious. She was an inspiration to many.
We could not witness her suffering any longer. At the same time though we were still grateful for every single second we spent with her.
In her mother’s words
We should thank the Lord for every child cured.
Although her life was short it was still precious. She was an inspiration to many.
We could not witness her suffering any longer. At the same time though we were still grateful for every single second we spent with her.