On 5 September, Lawrence Fenech, a doctor who was 85 years old, became the 14th person in Malta to die with Covid-19.
His death was met with widespread sadness, with hundreds of people – including the President of Malta George Vella, also a doctor himself – rushing to pay tribute to the much-loved doctor.
Lawrence Fenech is described best by his family – a man of integrity, a man of great patience, a man with near unparalleled devotion for his craft and his patients, and a man who above all else adored his family.
“My dad was a person of integrity, honesty and humility. He was also a very determined person who never gave up on anyone or anything”, his son, David, told The Malta Independent.
“He was the definition of love – his wife and family remained the single most important concern in his life and his last words to me just a few days before his passing were - ‘how is Mama?’, even as he was himself suffering greatly. It’s the same with his eldest daughter Rosanne, who passed away some years back. He really left no stone unturned to ensure all that was possible was done and more.”
To his daughter Julie, her father was one of the “sweetest and calmest” people she has ever known. “But that came with an amazing sense of what is right and wrong, an integrity that one rarely finds and a loyalty that was ironclad.”
Despite being far past retirement age, Lawrence Fenech continued to practice until only recently. His grandson, Matteo, is a medical student, and experienced first-hand from working with him just how far Fenech’s devotion to medicine and to his patients extended.
“He considered medicine to be a combination of two things: a science, and an art. He always kept up to date with the latest from the medical world, right up until two or three months before his passing”, Matteo explains.
“What was spectacular in him was the art – how he used to soothe a person… his posture, his voice, his eye contact – you knew you could talk to him about anything and everything, and you knew you could trust him. People used to go to him, and he could spend half-an-hour talking to them about anything – travel, cars, any family issues they might have been facing – before then delving into the medical reason for the person’s visit.”
“His patients would swear by him. People used to come down to Zabbar from Gozo for a simple check-up”, Matteo adds.
“He was always there for everyone who needed him. His passion and dedication to his patients was so strong that, even with advancing age, he still felt almost obliged to open his clinic and even conduct some home visits to elderly patients who could not drive till the beginning of this year when he finally decided it was time to stop”, his son David says
Indeed, Matteo explains that even when he had surpassed 80 years old, his day would start at 6:30am and would not end before 11pm, sometimes even later into the early hours of the morning. His only break would be a cup of tea and a sandwich.
“His love for his profession was infinite”, Julie, his daughter, says.
“Retiring for him was not an option. He insisted that if he was strong enough to keep on working, he was going to keep on being of service to the community. It was a vocation for him, he did it with all his heart”, she adds.
The impact he had on his patients’ lives is incalculable. Asked what effect he thinks his father had on other people’s lives, David says that there are so many examples, ranging from an 18-year-old who was seriously injured in 1966 on a motorbike, brought to his dad’s clinic where he treated him and sent him away without ever charging him, to a very good friend of his who, after being checked and cleared by the top aviation doctors in Malta and London, was diagnosed as having a very rare but benign heart condition that literally saved his career and probably life.
“His impact however was not just medical... many people used to come to him for advice... on setting up their own business, on where to go abroad on holiday, on what car to buy (one of his hobbies) and on many other matters. He was an amazingly patient listener, and a very calming person”, David continues.
“He even opened his clinic every Sunday morning and feast day, including Christmas and New Year, but still always made sure he was available to celebrate lunch with all the family... perhaps a late lunch of course... He used to tell us, ‘you are lucky, if you are sick, the doctor is in the house’... not everyone has that luxury!”, David adds.
Indeed, what comes through is just how much Lawrence Fenech was a family man. It is a side of the man that not many people would have known, but it is one which will never leave the heart and memory of his family.
“He was a family pillar – we all went to him for anything. He was a devoted husband who adored his wife, even as her health deteriorated – he continued to adore her and love her. It was pure love”, Matteo says.
“My dad was not only a great doctor with an incredible sixth sense of what a patient’s ailment was, he was also a great dad. He was very strict on our education, always insisting that he did not have a business that we can inherit. He could only give us the opportunity to study and it was up to us to work hard and succeed. He also taught us how to always think of others and to be respectful and generous”, Julie says.
“There are too many sweet memories of him to write them all down, but there are some that I will always hold dear to my heart. Like when I used to refuse to go to sleep much earlier than my siblings (being much younger) and I used to fall asleep on the sofa only to find myself being carried upstairs, half asleep, by dad and put to bed with a goodnight kiss.”
“Or when he taught me how to ride a bicycle. I was scared and he told me he wouldn’t let me go but when I heard his voice go further and further away, I realized that I was cycling on my own and he was laughing because he had tricked me.”
“To everyone he was this amazing gentleman, an intellectual who could discuss pretty much any subject, a doctor who had the knowledge of how to help their suffering, yet to me he was my beloved dad, who will always have a special place in my heart.”