The wife of Malta’s sixth coronavirus victim, surgeon Aaron Casha, has described her “unfathomable loss” after she had fought to keep him alive for a year through a coma.
Marilyn Casha, a consultant anaesthetist, had been by her husband’s side ever since he suffered a cardiac arrest last year leaving him with permanent brain damage. But her 53-year-old husband died on Tuesday night four days after he was diagnosed with COVID-19.
They had been married for 22 years.
On Wednesday, she and their two daughters could not attend the burial ceremony because they are in mandatory quarantine.
“When I found out he had coronavirus I knew he would soon leave us,” she said over the phone.
“I am pro-life. I feel I have stood up for life. I am at peace because I have done everything humanly possible to protect his life and I would do it again.”
As news of his death spread, tributes poured in for the renowned and much-respected heart surgeon and lecturer. He was described as a great father and husband, an excellent surgeon, a supportive mentor and a kind teacher who taught a whole generation of Maltese doctors.
His wife had been a student of his, well before he started courting her. She went on to specialise in pain medicine – never imagining that one day she would use that specialisation on her own husband.
It was so painful watching him. Down to your bones, it hurts.”
“Being a pain specialist was a double-edged sword for me: I had the medical knowledge to be able to help him more as I could follow the data throughout his illness. In a way it was a blessing,” she said, her voice trembling as she spoke.
“But, from a purely human point of view, it was as if I was not a doctor. It was so painful watching him. Down to your bones, it hurts.”
The two were acquaintances when she was 13 and she met him again when she was a medical student and he was a demonstrator in anatomy.
He went on to study abroad for six years and, when he returned for the Easter holidays, they met at a social event organised by the University of Malta. He asked her if she had finished her studies – which she had – and they started dating. But this was only after he had cleared it with the head of the Department of Anatomy to ensure it was known there had been nothing between them when she was his student.
“He was such an upright person,” she said.
“He lived for research, for his profession and for the university. How thoroughly he used to prepare. And he’d share his ideas with everyone with no consideration for money.
“He was truly selfless. He took such great pleasure in seeing a thesis pass and he was always drowning in books.
Aaron was a brilliant father and a very, very brave man. He completed his PhD while on dialysis
“Aaron was a brilliant father and a very, very brave man. He completed his PhD while on dialysis. He loved research just as much as he loved building a hamster cage for our daughters,” Marilyn giggled.
A year ago her husband suffered a cardiac arrest that left him with permanent brain damage and resulted in complex medical issues. The family had just been planning a holiday to Vienna.
“I remember he asked me if I planned to do some shopping because he wanted to go to the Natural History Museum to speak to the curator to take measurements of a penguin there. That’s how much he loved research,” she said.
“Aaron was an amazing husband... my loss is unfathomable.”
She expressed thanks to his doctors, Tonio Piscopo, Karen Cassar and Paul Cassar, as well as the lead consultant in intensive care, Michael Buttigieg, consultants Andrew Aquilina, Stephen Sciberras, as well as staff at ITU, ENT, S5 and neuromedical wards.