Radio presenter Terry Farrugia has died today, The Malta Independent has learnt.
Earlier this year, a website TerryTime.org was launched to help raise €500,000 in funds for Farrugia, a man who made his mark on Maltese radio with his early 90s show called Terry Time.
Some €185,000 had been collected, according to the Terry Time website.
Terry was known for having trained many known local presenters, supported local bands, and also having been repeatedly invited to speak and deliver presentations at international broadcasting conferences in various cities throughout Europe.
Terry was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML). AML is a type of blood cancer that is caused by the bone marrow essentially malfunctioning and releasing immature white blood cells, known as blasts, into the blood stream.
He had two children.
Hi Facebook page says that on being diagnosed, he was hospitalised and given his first line treatment of four rounds of chemotherapy.
After just over a year, Terry and his family received the dreaded news that the disease had returned. The next line of treatment was more aggressive chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant.
Terry underwent a cord blood bone marrow transplant in England in March 2018 but soon after, it was confirmed that Terry had relapsed.
Four months after being given the more targeted chemotherapy drug, Terry relapsed again.
Terry was flown to the US for consultation at the beginning of January 2019. Following discussions with US and Maltese doctors it was agreed that the best way forward would be for Terry to be treated in Malta.