"Why me?" New episode of 'Conversations with Kanwal' explores dealing with cancer

Momina tells Kanwal a powerful story of her 7 year long battle with cancer

KARACHI: This week's episode of Conversations with Kanwal again explores a subject that is often difficult to discuss, even though we all know someone who has experienced it. Soul Sisters founder Kanwal Ahmed inviting cancer survivor Momina as a guest speaker to share her powerful battle with the disease.

"We all read such amazing stories on Soul Sisters everyday where people come out of the worst circumstances through positivity," Kanwal begins. Momina then relays her story of dealing with her bone cancer and how she came to know about her deadly condition. "I'm a seven-year bone cancer survivor. This condition is called osteogenic sarcoma."

The guest speaker went on the explain to Kanwal that while people usually find out about the condition during their teenage years, she found out at the age of 28, as a mother of two daughters.

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"After my wedding, I noticed a small lump under my right knee which felt like swelling. When I gave my birth to my second daughter, the lump started to give me more trouble and was painful to touch," she recalled .

Momina told her husband of her irritation and decided to go get the lump checked. It was then that an orthopedic surgeon, who is a relative of the couple, informed them that the pain might be due to an infection in the bone.

But the situation took a turn for the worst. After a lengthy operation and numerous tests, doctors discovered Momina was already in the third stage of the illness.

Surgeons first informed her they need to amputate her leg to deter the cancer from spreading to the lungs. "It was shocking to me that I will be handicapped for the rest of my life while my daughters are still young. But thank God, they didn't need to cut my leg after all."

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Momina began chemotherapy after her family promised that they will take care of everything while she recovers.  Still, Momina struggled to accept her condition and kept asking herself, "Why me?"

"I was so young and I was so perfect; everything was going so smoothly. I was on top of my class at university and I just kept asking how something like this could happen to me," Momina shared.

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But she came to a startling realisation during the difficult process.  "God made me realise that we are nothing. Anything can happen at any time and we shouldn't think too highly of ourselves."

Momina took her cancer as a test to see what God had planned for her. Of course, chemotherapy took a toll on her body, from hair fall, to months of terrible nausea.

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Momina admitted the hairfall upset her the most and she used to try different remedies to deter the side effect. "I told myself that I am going to cry my heart out today and after that, I won't cry again," Momina said. "I told Allah that I won't cry now. I have to fight this."

During her interview with Kanwal, the cancer survivor went on to explain how she gathered strength during her chemotherapy sessions when she could barely move. "I would say I want to go out and have fun with my kids."

But Momina would never let her husband see her when she became completely bald. She went into depression from not moving for months on end.

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After months of prayers to Allah, Momina said a miracle occurred when the doctors informed her they did not need to open another leg. But the battle was far from over as she couldn't use both her legs for a few months. With tears in her eyes, Momina revealed to Kanwal that she asked God for a son if this was indeed a test that she is to be rewarded for. She then went into intensive care and surgeons removed the entire tumour in her leg.

But that was not all. During her surgery, the doctors forgot they had taken a patch of skin from her leg which was used to clean stitches.  The plaster was inside and rotting.

She then went through the excruciating pain of getting the patch removed by acid, which doctors said cannot be performed with any kind of numbing treatment. "At that time, I felt God had given me special powers to deal with whatever came my way. I obviously struggled with tantrums which my husband had to endure, but Allah gave us the strength," Momina said.

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Turns out, Momina conceived the son that she had asked Allah for soon after. "The moment I held him, I knew he was my reward for everything I went through."

Watch the full episode:


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