In June 1981, doctors told Tony Gambin that he only had days left to live.
Ten days later, Gambin was out of hospital and back at work. The sickness that almost killed him was nowhere to be seen.
Medical examiners could not explain it. And in 2001, twenty years after the medical incident, his recovery would serve as the basis for the beatification of Nazju Falzon.
Gambin, who served as the national football team's masseur for 38 years, died on Monday aged 83.
The story of how he was miraculously cured from cancer is recounted in the book ‘
Beatu Nazju Falzon – Alla jibqa’ ifejjaq’ by Mgr Philip Calleja and Charles Buttigieg, was published in 2016.