Al-istiqamah: Asma
was 8 ½ years old at the time. Do you think she understood
the seriousness of the situation?
Omar: At first, she didn’t know what was
going on. She was quite puzzled as to what was happening.
I remember when my father told my mother that Asma had a tumor
as mentioned earlier; Asma was so confused when my parents
were crying while holding her. In fact, it got to a point
where she looked at both of my parents and said in Urdu, “Aap
mujey ghabraaray hay, kiya hogaya?” (“You guys are making
me worried, what happened?”) She started to weep. However,
it didn’t take long for her to figure out what was going on.
She was a very intelligent girl. What is interesting is that
during all this, we seemed to be more worried and afraid than
Asma.
Either she didn’t know the extent of her
condition or she was very patient and left it up to Allah.
Whatever the case, it didn’t take long for Asma to find out
the reality of her illness. The pain and the increasing size
of her tumor were constant reminders to herself that something
indeed was wrong. With everything that has been going on with
her, she realized that she may very well leave this dunya
way before any of us.
Al-istiqamah: What
was the routine regarding her treatment and appointments like?
Omar: It was hectic. It
was scary. It was full of uncertainty. The worst part of it
all was not knowing what was about to happen next. We found
out about Asma’s cancer during the last week of May, 2002.
My parents and I took Asma in for her first doctor’s appointment
to discuss the course of action we were taking to fight her
cancer. I still remember sitting in the doctor’s office. I
sat alongside my parents.
 Asma
could not sit still as she was in excruciating pain. She was
immediately put on chemotherapy a week later – first week
of June. By this time, her tumor was massive. To give you
an idea, her tumor was the size of a medium-sized watermelon
– no exaggeration. She was immobile. She could not use her
left leg at all. The massive tumor did not allow her to bend
and/or move her knee/leg whatsoever. It was ‘stuck’ in one
position for several months.
Asma had her second surgery (first being her biopsy) in which
they implanted a ‘central line’ into her chest to be used
for chemotherapy, blood transfusions and providing her nutritional
needs. She had received chemotherapy for three months straight
and completed her cycle. Chemotherapy itself was a poison
and did much harm to her. She would spend anywhere from a
week to a month at the hospital when getting chemotherapy.
The actual chemotherapy round would last for a couple days.
It was the effects of the chemotherapy that would prolong
her stay at the hospital.
Al-istiqamah: Could you describe
some of the effects of the chemotherapy?
1 2
3 4
5 6
7 8
9
| 
