Summer 2022 began with much excitement. Our daughter Aisha was recently engaged and we were in the midst of planning her wedding. Little did we know that in an instant our lives would be turned upside down. One seemingly ordinary Monday morning, in the middle of a busy surgery, Pervez noticed blood in his urine. As a doctor he immediately knew that this was serious, but he had spent his entire life in the service of others, and so all he could do was to continue to attend to his waiting room full of patients who were depending on his full attention and care.
Fast forward a few days later and his fears were confirmed. He had bladder cancer and it was advanced. He had no prior symptoms. There was no possibility of this being diagnosed earlier. His immediate concern was not for himself but for our family, and whether he would live to walk Aisha down the aisle on her wedding day.
Pervez was forced to undergo the unfathomable adjustment of becoming the patient himself, one week running 30 miles and playing badminton, the next undergoing chemotherapy at the Beatson Cancer Centre, where Aisha, also a doctor, was in her final year of training before becoming a consultant oncologist.
Under the care of his excellent consultant oncologist and surgeon, he underwent several months of gruelling chemotherapy before proceeding to a major 10 hour operation. The recovery was long, but he never once complained. We clung to our hope that he would be cured and that there would be light at the end of the tunnel. As Pervez slowly regained his strength, he dreamed of being able to return to the surgery. He often voiced how much he missed his patients.
