Professional Photographer Shares Story of Cancer-Stricken Daughter During Pandemic

(Photo: REUTERS/Darrin Zammit Lupi)
14-year-old cancer patient Rebecca Zammit Lupi and her mother Marisa Ford sit with the family dog Cookie after Rebecca arrived home after staying for almost five months in the Sir Anthony Mamo Oncology Centre in Mater Dei Hospital during the COVID-19 outbreak while she received treatment for cancer, in Kappara, Malta July 18, 2020.

In a story she shared with Reuters, Darrin Zammit Lupi recalled he could not clearly picture the surgeon's face who changed his family's life.

Here he said, he was not sure he'd recognize the doctor if he bumped into him in the street. Yet, he shared he could vividly recall the surgeon's face as it turned pale the moment he looked at the X-rays of the shoulder of his 14-year-old daughter.

The teenager's chronic pain had initially been diagnosed as a possible inflammation, and then, perhaps some problems in the muscle that, according to Darrin, "could be fixed with a few physiotherapy sessions."

But on October 31 last year, they discovered that Rebecca or Becs, as they call the 14-year-old, had Ewing's Sarcoma, a rare yet very aggressive form of bone cancer.

Cancer, Becs' dad recalled, had "started deep in the sponge bone of her humerus" and broke out eventually, through the bone surface, resulting in unbearable pain. It then metastasized to several other body parts.

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Cycles of Chemotherapy Needed

They live on a small Mediterranean Sea island, Malta, situated between Italy and Africa. According to Darrin, Becs' care was delegated to the staff in Rainbow Ward, a pediatric and adolescent ward at the Sir Anthony Mamo Oncology Center, the island's main national hospital, Mater Dei's annex.

First, the father shared that they were told his daughter "would need nine cycles of chemotherapy" for the initial treatment procedure. They would then be followed by surgery at the Nuffield Orthopedic Center in Oxford, England, to replace the bone with a prosthetic.

Nonetheless, in less than half-a-year, Becs' battle was made even worse by this global health crisis that brought paranoia over the possibility of getting her compromised immune system infected.

The pandemic brought anxiety too, over medical chains, and worst of all, when being together with the whole family was needed the most.

During Becs' rounds of treatment, her dad said she was hospitalized so her doctors could closely monitor her. Her wife, Marisa or Mars, was there to stay with their daughter at the hospital while he would visit Becs every day as he continued working as a Reuters photographer.

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The Most Difficult Challenge the Pandemic Has Brought

With the arrival of COVID-19 in Malta on March 15 this year, their routine changed. While he was covering the rescued migrants' arrival, this photographer recalled his wife called in a panic, saying the hospital was going to implement a lockdown on the ward effective the next day.

Meaning, he said, "Who was in would stay in, and who was out would stay out," in an attempt to shield the young and very susceptible patients from the virus.

After learning about the lockdown, Darrin rushed to the hospital to spend the time left with him with Becs. Together, they watched a few episodes of their favorite TV series, talked, laughed, and played board games.

Leaving his daughter that night, this media professional said, "Felt like the hardest thing I'd ever had to do." Though he said he had no idea when he would next see Becs in person, Darrin said, he knew it was for his daughter's own safety.

First Time in Over 3 Months

In early April, this professional photographer saw his daughter again. It was the first time they saw each other in person again, in more than three weeks.

Two months after the quarantine measures at the hospital were lifted further, and parents were already allowed to exchange places provided that COVID-19 tests were negative and strict quarantine while at home were followed.

Darrin shared he ended up "doing two stints in hospital for more than three weeks each" over the following couple of months.

By this time, his daughter went through a taxing daily administration of radiotherapy, or which, the photographer said, "The side effects weren't pretty."

Apart from the treatment, playing havoc with Becs' blood counts, her dad said, "Resulting skin burns" were very painful, as well.

In an attempt to cheer her daughter up, the nurses threw a small party for Becs at the end of her radiotherapy treatment. By this time, the patient said she had turned fascinated by medical imaging and radiotherapy's whole notion that she was considering it as a possible career option.

Darrin admitted they are far from over. The family is still waiting to see if they would need to take Becks to Oxford for the surgery the doctors in Malta think she needs.

More tests are lined up, although the hopeful father said, "there have been good moments." Becs turned 15 just recently, and seeing her old friends celebrating with her on her birthday "meant everything to her."

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