Leah still in Texas intensive care ward

Time is again standing still for the parents of Leah, who underwent major surgery last week, as the three-year-old remains in intensive care. “Her temperature keeps rising, and the doctors are trying to keep it under control. Leah’s tired... we’re all really tired,” her mother Zhana Xuereb said yesterday. “She’s stable and doing well but we can’t wait until she’s better. And we can’t tell when she’ll be better, because recovery will take its time.” Leah underwent a 12-hour operation in Texas last week to remove a very rare form of stomach cancer after 16 months of diagnosis and treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. She was helped down from the bed on to a chair on November 13 and took her first steps the following day. A week later her body temperature keeps fluctuating. But for her aunt Josefa in Għajnsielem, just listening to the little girl brightens up her day, even if Leah is not in the mood to hold a conversation. “It’s tough, but it’s nice to hear her little voice when we speak on Skype,” she said. Leah was diagnosed with a rare yolk-sac tumour at two, and despite chemotherapy and stem cell transplant, her condition worsened. Her parents learned she could be...