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Aisha Chaudhary was a young girl who died when she was just 18-year-old, but her thoughts, published in a book My Little Epiphanies, make us truly think about our lives.
She wasn’t just like any other ordinary 18-year-old who doesn’t know much about life, its tough challenges, and above all feeling grateful to God for whatever we have.
Aisha did behave like any other 18-year-old while enjoying her life, spending time with her loved ones and doing things she loved to do like writing, painting, giving pep talks, playing with her dogs and so on. But unlike other 18-year-olds she understood the meaning and depth of life which even the grown-ups like us fail to.
How did Aisha become so mature and sensitive towards life at such a young age? Well, it has a very heart-breaking story behind it.
Aisha Chaudhary (March 1996 – January 2015) was born with Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID) which is like being born without any immune system. This can result in the death of the child by some extremely minor disease, as the child is unable to fight against it.
Aisha’s doting parents Aditi and Niren moved to the UK with all their savings for her treatment. After going through some very tough challenges like raising money for Aisha’s treatment through a Fund Raiser and bone marrow transplant of baby Aisha (her father though not an exact match, donated his bone marrow to Aisha) Aisha survived for 15 years. Throughout these 15 years, Aisha went trough Chemotherapy, regular check-ups at hospital, lots of physical pain, and other challenges.
At the age of 15, a test showed her to be completely fine and Aisha found hope for a normal life and a complete life span. She was elated! But just after a few months another test showed she had developed Pulmonary Fibrosis – a lung hardening disease which ultimately leads to death. Aisha’s hopes shattered and she knew she had just a few years left to her.
In such a scenario, no one can live a normal life. The young girl whose world has always been confined to the four walls of her home and then to the hospital is bound to get sad, depressed and disheartened. Aisha, on the contrary, decided to live, treasure and cherish every moment of her life!
Helped and encouraged by her loving parents and brother, Aisha lived her dreams. She made beautiful paintings and wrote her heartfelt emotions in thought provoking poems. Due to her physical ailments, Aisha couldn’t study well, but her writings show a deep knowledge about life and relationships that she had at her young age. Her writings and doodled artwork got published in a book named My Little Epiphanies.
Aisha, in the short life she lived, has shown us all how to be happy, positive, motivated, and feel grateful to God for whatever He has given us. She never gave up on life and wasn’t scared of death (though sometimes she did wish to live longer!)
There are very few people who practice gratitude the way Aisha did it. I would recommend you all to go and watch The Sky Is Pink, a movie based on Aisha’s life. It’s definitely gonna touch your hearts and give you goosebumps. I’m so much in love with Aisha. God bless you, little princess. Rest in Heaven.
Watch her TEDex Talk here.
A version of this was first published here.
Image source: YouTube
I'm Deeksha- mommy of a little girl, a school teacher by profession and a blogger by passion. I love reading and writing real-life motivational stories of women who never ever gave up in read more...
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