Leah’s fighting spirit

Leah Xuereb, the four-year-old who had life-saving treatment in Texas last year, is still undergoing chemotherapy in Malta, but has gained some normality. “We have to travel to Malta for treatment or tests every day but, compared to what she has been through, Leah is now doing normal things that little girls do,” her mother, Zhana, said at Rainbow Ward in Mater Dei Hospital yesterday. “She rides her white bike, which she requested for Christmas, everyday and plays with her brother, Owen, and her new pet kitten, Tiger, all the time.” Dressed in pink from head to toenails, the little girl bounced and rolled on her bed as the family waited for her dose of blood platelets, which she receives after chemotherapy. In October, Leah won the nation’s heart when her parents made a plea through Times of Malta to fund her life-saving treatment for a rare form of cancer in a specialised Texas hospital. At three, Leah had already spent half her life in hospital in Malta and in London. The €245,000 treatment in the US was funded by the Government and Leah managed to fulfil their wish to return to Malta just a few days before Christmas. But the family was in for some bad news on New Year’s Eve...