A terminally ill woman who decided to throw a party after being told she could have weeks left to live said she is determined to celebrate life “second by second”.

Nicky Sansone, 55, threw “a party in celebration of my life” in St Julian’s last Saturday after fearing she might not make it to her birthday on August 24.

“We had to bring it forward because they don’t think I will make it until then. It ended up being a bigger event with over 120 people. I was overwhelmed,” she says.

Sansone started documenting her story on TikTok after she was diagnosed with cancer in November. The video she shared of her birthday party had more than 23,000 views as people inundated her with messages of admiration and support.

She uses her channel to share her own views about the importance of enjoying life and to urge people to check out any cancer symptoms immediately.

“Smile, live, love and enjoy life to the fullest,” is the message she wants to leave behind.

“For many people, it’s life-work-life-work. They forget to live. The world has become so sad. Enjoy life. Stop fighting. Stop complaining. Live. People worry about such stupid things.  I did too. Now, if I go for a drive, I appreciate seeing the sea twice as much as before.

“Some people don’t cherish what they have until it’s gone. So, if you have something and it’s good focus on the good,” she says as she sits in a hospital bed at the Sir Anthony Mamo Oncology Centre where she was recently moved into palliative care.

Sansone believes her symptoms started when she started losing weight about three years ago. Back then she attributed the weight loss to the fact that she had cut alcohol from her life completely.

“I had gone through a rough patch and alcohol had become a problem. I decided I had to stop and I did. It’s been three years and two months now,” she says. After changing her lifestyle to a healthier one, she started walking and swimming regularly.

Nicky Sansone has been given weeks to live but she is determined to fight to continue living.

In November, she went for a swim with a friend and got so breathless that she had to get out of the water. She went to a doctor who sent her to get an X-ray immediately.

She went to hospital and tests showed that her lungs were full of water. Doctors extracted 500ml from each lung. They tested the liquid and found traces of cancer. Further tests showed it likely originated from her ovaries and spread throughout her body. She was diagnosed with stage 4 aggressive cancer and began chemotherapy.

Sansone says she carried out smear tests over the years but was not regular with them and skipped them occasionally.

Things went well initially.  The plan was to operate to remove the tumours spread around her body but when surgeons opened her up they realised the cancer had spread and it was too risky to do anything.

They changed her treatment and tried different options until the oncologist told her that there was not much more that could be done.

“I asked: ‘how much do I have?’ She said: ‘it’s hard to say’.”

That was when she decided to throw a party to celebrate her life.

Among those present were many from the LGBTIQ community who turned up to thank Sansone for her contribution. In a Facebook post shared after the party, the MGRM described her as “an important person in Malta’s LGBTIQ history and an amazing, beloved woman who changed many people’s lives…”

They described how she was one of the first women who offered LGBTIQ people a space, through opening Gaiety, in Paceville around 30 years ago  and, later, when she opened Nix Bar, in St Julian’s.

Back then, in the 1990s, the gay community had no place to go, recalls Sansone who witnessed the change unfold as people no longer felt they had to hide.

“I’m overwhelmed. I still can’t believe what’s happening… I had opened gay bars but did not expect recognition,” she says.

She goes on to add that, as an animal lover, her main worry for the future is leaving her two cats Tiger and Billy – but she knows they will be in safe hands as her friends will be taking them in.

Her cats feature in some of her TikTok posts where she talks about how “they know”.

Apart from her treatment journey, her posts also document happy moments such as when her avocado plant sprouts, scenes from a recent trip to Sicily and getting her favourite ice cream from a kiosk in Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq.

She also laughs at herself such as at how, because of a side effect of chemo on vision, she must use a magnifying glass to check the expiry date on the eggs in her fridge.

Her videos also contain messages of awareness about regular health checks. She talks about having ADHD and OCD and her determination to fight to continue living and to try to remain positive despite the good and bad moments.

Throughout her videos, where she thanks her followers for their kind words and support, she repeats the message to “enjoy life to the fullest”.

“In my posts, I tried to be as positive as possible telling people to enjoy life and not take it for granted as you never know what’s round the corner. Your perception of life changes so much when you are in this situation. I’ve forgiven people who have done me wrong. Because... Why? Like this, my mind is at peace,” she says.