BEACON OF HOPE From a small town in the agricultural heartland of Pakistan, to the thriving city of Seattle USA, I’ve come a long way. And the journey has been full of laughter, tears, hard work, long nights, moments of anxiety and jubilation. I was blessed to have parents who nurtured me and guided me through all the tough decisions in life. I married my best friend and soon after, we moved to the US to seek out our careers. Life, as we knew it, was great and working out as planned. Our first real test came when we decided to start our family. In spite of a prolonged period of mental, physical and emotional frustration and exertion, I was not ready to give up. Hope came in the form of a (in)fertility clinic in New York and the doctors there, who literally, had written a book on the topic. We were finally blessed with a beautiful baby girl. In an urgency to complete our family, we went back to the same clinic and came back with triplets this time! Having four babies less than two years of age was a challenge, to say the least. I struggled with the choice of putting my career on hold. After much debate, I decided to go back to work and it was probably one of the best decisions I made for myself. Even though it is often hard to juggle work and family and give one hundred percent to both, I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Work keeps me sane at home, and vice versa. And life goes on, right? Well, so do the trials and tribulations. One can plan one’s life as much as one wants, and in as much detail as one wants, but certain things are beyond one’s control. The higher and divine power has his own plan. When he was only two years old, our beautiful, happy, darling baby boy was diagnosed with autism.
“WHEN HE WAS ONLY TWO YEARS OLD, OUR BEAUTIFUL, HAPPY, DARLING BABY BOY WAS DIAGNOSED WITH AUTISM...OUR ENTIRE EXISTENCE TURNED UPSIDE DOWN...THE DREAMS AND ASPIRATIONS THAT WE HAD FOR OUR CHILD WERE ALTERED IN MANY WAYS AND NEW REALITIES TOOK THEIR PLACE.”