Ian Ciantar, 10, who got his 15 minutes of fame when he was chosen to kick off the Italy vs England Legends match at Ta' Qali last month, is back in hospital fighting cancer.
After a five-month ordeal battling lymphoma with intense chemotherapy, Ian was happy to return to the Naxxar primary school at the beginning of this scholastic year.
Things were going well, until 10 days ago when Ian returned home complaining of a sharp pain in his shoulder. His mother put it down to the heavy school bags, but when it persisted, she took him to hospital.
Initially, the X-rays showed nothing wrong, and further bone scans and ultrasounds were carried out. It was the lumbar puncture test which revealed that the lymphoma had spread to the fluid surrounding the boy's brain.
He was admitted to hospital and began another bout of intensive chemotherapy on Friday. His parents have been told that they will have to fly to the UK for further treatment.
Gone is the shy smile of the avid Juventus supporter, who just over a month ago was relishing the gifts and attention which came from being chosen as one of two boys to take part in the Legends football match. Ian's story was featured on the television programme Replay, after the crew had approached the Puttinu Cares Children's Cancer Support Group to pick two boys for the kick off.
"His morale is quite low and he doesn't seem to care for anything. He's very quiet and probably still shocked at the news," his mother Doreen told The Sunday Times.
"The whole family is stunned. We're also worried because we don't know when we'll be going to the UK or how long we have to stay there. His two brothers are also down, knowing what Ian has to go through," Mrs Ciantar said.
The team of Replay are once again intervening, this time to help the boy who touched the hearts of the whole crew. They have opened a Bank of Valletta account and during tonight's edition on Net TV at 9.15 p.m. they will be running a campaign to raise money for the family.
In the meantime, those who wish to help can deposit money into the bank account in Naxxar or send an SMS to 5004 9872 for a donation of Lm2 and 5004 9875 for Lm5.