At 1:16pm, Jan 27th 2024, Menaal, our special flower of heaven, returned home, leaving her sweet fragrant memories with us to cherish forever.

18 years and 29 days earlier she came to this world against the odds by cheating her way into the adventure we call life. For she wasn't "meant" to be. And boy did she show us all how it should be lived. Today she would cheat her way out

Shermin and I both carry the recessive Thalassemia gene, which if two matching genes come together, results in a child being born with Thalassemia Major, a life long blood disorder. We had gotten the fetus' blood tested during the pregnancy, to ensure that a child suffering from Thalassemia wouldn't come to be. On getting the all-clear; results saying the child would be a carrier, like us, we proceeded. A few months passed and on December 30th, 2005, Menaal came into our lives, a blessing for which we'll forever be grateful.

A few weeks later, February 8th, 2006 to be exact, we took a call that would tell us that our baby actually had Thalassemia Major. Our world was turned upside down, our child would be afflicted forever. We had a full investigation carried out and it turned out that the sample had been cross-contamined and so we got the wrong results! Thus it came to be that Menaal cheated her way into life. The only cure for Thalassemia is a bone marrow transplant. Back in those days, only a 100% matching sibling was accepted as a donor. As Hamza (her brother) was not a match, we put the idea of a transplant to bed and carried on with life.

We would see her flourish, a magnetic personality that left a lasting impression on every single person that ever met her. A truly caring, sincere and loving person, beautiful inside and out. No one that ever met her knew of her health condition; that she would go for blood transfusions every 4 weeks, that she would take medication daily to remove iron from her body. No one noticed that the last few days of each cycle menaal would be tired and restless.

We kept that fact quiet so that Menaal would never be referred to as 'bechari' (poor thing) which well-meaning people in our culture would definitely have done. "Ihis worked- she grew up as the strongest, most confident and happy person you could ever hope to meet.

As she became a teenager she would, on her terms, share this information with anyone she wanted, but we would keep it for her to share only. Fast forward to us coming to Canada, and the Children's hospital asking us if we had looked into bone marrow transplants.

We explained that she didn't have a matched sibling, they explained that now protocols have changed and we should try. We got onto the register, and to our amazement, she got not one but two matches!

Our beautiful headstrong Menaal decided that she wanted to go ahead with the transplant, and on November 16 it took place. Fate would turn this into our worst nightmare, as just 3 days after the transplant the first complication arose. Menaal would fight for 10 long weeks against among other things, VOD, and then TATMA and HLH. For each of these monsters, she would cheat- not showing all symptoms, perplexing doctors that were trying to diagnose her. "The last two which came together (ultra rare) were just too much for our flower to overcome.

Menaal you were the strongest person that we will ever know. You were concentrated love. God knew you would only be here fol 18 years so he concentrated all that goodness into one perfect little package. It has been an honour to have called you our daughter and we will spend the rest of our lives cherishing the memories you have lefi us.

Until the day we can hold your perfect face in our hands once again Menaal, stay safe and in peace in heaven. You are and were the strongest person I know! I admire you and you will always be my strength! I miss you Beti My heart is broken forever!