‘I survived cancer that killed my mother and boyfriend…but my battle isn’t over'

Martina Fenech successfully lobbied the government to help provide insurance cover for cancer survivors. She tells Mark Laurence Zammit about her fight against a deadly disease – and the discrimination it left behind.

Martina Fenech lost her mother to cancer when she was 15. Two months after her mother’s death, she was diagnosed with cancer herself and survived. Four years later she lost her boyfriend to cancer.

Martina recalls her mother’s last breaths, as she sat beside her bed during the New Year’s Eve countdown.

“She died at Boffa Hospital and we could hear fireworks going off as she was passing away,” she told Times of Malta.

“When I was diagnosed with cancer two months later, I dreamt about her, and she told me, ‘You will make it,’ and I believe that is what gave me the courage to survive.”

Fenech was only three years old when her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. The 11-year-long battle took a toll on the entire family and Martina says back then they found little to no help.

“I had already been feeling unwell when she passed away, but we had no idea my ordeal was just beginning,” she said.

“I remember how shocked I felt when I got the news. It is a horrible...