'Conversations with Kanwal' takes on love, acceptance in episode 10

Told at age 9 she would not survive, Madiha tells Kanwal how her life turned into a beautiful love story

This week's episode of Conversations with Kanwal took on a concept people often struggle with: love.

Host Kanwal Ahmed begins the episode saying, "These movies and TV shows have made us lose our minds. They promote the same kind of looks and appearances as being capable of love only."

But how much does love have to do with appearance? Shouldn't everyone love and being loved? These are questions discussed through Madiha's story, the guest speaker of the week.

Madiha recalls how a tragedy that occurred early on in her life changed it forever. When she was just seven years old, she started to feel weakness in her body. She would be walking or standing tall and suddenly fall to the ground. When it kept happening, her family realised something was very wrong.

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At the age of nine, doctors diagnosed Madiha with muscular dystrophy and said she had only six more months to live. "My parents were in a state of shock.  They never expected this and I was the kind of girl who was always jolly and used to bug people," she says.

The doctors advised Madiha's parents to take her out of school straight away.  But her mother was afraid how her daughter would turn out intellectually if she was to live beyond the six month lifeline.

Ironically, while the family was in great distress over Madiha's condition, she, in fact, was at ease. "People in my surroundings were not accepting me, I feel I was so confident at the time and whatever change came my way, I was accepting it in a healthy manner," Madiha explains in the interview.

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However, she struggled at school and didn't have anymore than one or two friends. "I don't know what issues girls had... I started out as a very confident girl but because of their attitude, I closed myself in a shell in the end."

But things always get better, as they say. Madiha's life turned around when she started her MBA and met her now-husband Umar. During her B.Com, Umar used to help her a lot, even though they were not really friends at the time.

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"If I was walking and had to sit suddenly, there would be a chair immediately behind me and it was like magic," Madiha shares. "When I would be leaving class, I would notice that there is a guy holding the door for me so that I can go out with ease."

Sitting on her wheelchair and narrating her love story to Kanwal, Madiha speaks of how Umar ended up messaging her after she finished her classes. After establishing a good friendship, he ended up asking if he could introduce his mother to Madiha's family.

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After much thought from both sides, Madiha herself was confused as what to do.  She didn't want to burden Umar but, the two took the plunge into a beautiful union. "Umar's parents told me that when the proposal was being finalised, they called him to their room and said, 'Give it one more thought... later, if you upset her, she will stay in this house'."

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