Singer Leontine Camilleri has revealed how she was diagnosed with cancer on Christmas Eve last year and feared that she would not be alive to celebrate the season again.

The popular performer has opened up for the first time about her diagnosis and the impact it had on her family.

Even though a recent scan showed she is clear, she is still undergoing regular treatment.

“I was alone when I found out,” she told Times of Malta. “It was a hospital appointment to get the results of some tests and I told my husband there was no need for him to come with me.

“I did not expect that news. It was shocking. I felt like Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz in the tornado: time stopped and I felt suspended.”

When she got home, she informed her husband but did not want to tell the rest of the family, including her 10-year-old son, before they had a clearer idea of the way forward.

“So, on Christmas day, I was there, smiling. Taking family photos and wondering if they would be my last,” she recalled, as her son Dean, rested his head on her shoulder.

Shortly before she began chemotherapy in March, Leontine told her son she would be taking some medication that might affect her energy levels and lead to her losing her hair. She did not mention the word “cancer”.

But a few months later, her son returned home and asked the question she had been dreading. He also recalls that day: “I was talking to a girl on the school van and told her my mum’s hair was falling out. She asked me if she had cancer. When I got home, I asked to speak to my mother. We closed ourselves in a room. We both cried so much,” he recalls.

I did not expect that news. I felt like Dorothy from ‘The Wizard of Oz’ in the tornado

At one point during her treatment, her son asked her if she would still be around next year.

“You can’t sugar-coat things – you have to tell the truth,” said Leontine. “I remember telling him that the doctors were doing their best but I didn’t know what else to say.”

Apart from the six cycles of chemo – which were completed in summer - Leontine had to take other medications intravenously. One of the medications is not offered for free.

Dean kissing Leontine during chemo.

She could only afford the treatment with the support of the Malta Community Chest Fund Foundation, which is holding its annual televised fundraising marathon L-Istrina on December 26.

“The consultant tells you about a treatment you ideally take. It costs so much money that you cannot work enough hours. You wonder how you will manage. Even our life savings would not cover it… You already have all the health worries and then there is the financial side. But thank God the Malta Community Chest Fund Foundation are of enormous support financially and more,” she said.

Leontine must still take a treatment every three weeks.

“Thank God, my last PET scan came out clear. A clear PET scan is the dream of anyone who’s ever been through this,” she said.

“My life will remain tied to the hospital because I have to continue receiving treatment every three weeks. Before, I had a monthly appointment at the hairdresser and now I have this appointment at the hospital.”

She feels lucky to have come so far in her treatment.

“You never think it will happen to you, but I am a person like any other. I bore the disease physically, but my family suffered with me. I consider myself lucky since I am clear now. Not everyone gets the news that they are clear,” she said.

The annual L-Istrina fundraising telethon will air on all local TV stations from noon to midnight on December 26.