“You think it’s over when the treatments are finished, but it’s not. There’s so much going on in my brain, so many doctors’ appointments, blood tests, urine tests, kidney tests and hearing tests. Yoga helps to still my mind. And our teacher Allison shares such amazing perspectives.”– Fowzieh Mohammadi
Sitara was busy four-year-old girl. A little on the bossy side and very athletic. “She would go, go, go all day long, from the moment she opened her eyes in the morning until the moment she closed them at night,” says her mother Fowzieh.
All of this changed suddenly in 2017, when Sitara started slowing down. “She was favouring one side when she walked,” Fowzieh says. “She would walk towards the right all the time and run into walls. She was nauseous and dizzy a lot and even had double vision, but she couldn’t really say what was happening because she was so young.”
Sitara’s balance issues were particularly troublesome when she was walking up stairs, “She would lean backwards when going upstairs, so I would walk behind her to catch her and guide her back up.”
One day, Fowzieh wasn’t able to catch Sitara because she had run ahead to open the stairwell door. In those few seconds, Sitara had tumbled backwards. She fell down the stairs and hit her head on the metal railing. Frightened that she may have suffered a concussion, Fowzieh and her husband Ahmed took Sitara to emergency that night.
Over the next two weeks, Sitara saw seven different doctors and they were no closer to understanding her bizarre symptoms. One night, Fowzieh finally put her foot down: “I’m not taking Sitara home until she has a CT scan or an MRI.” Sitara had a CT scan that night.
As the doctor walked towards them with the results of the CT scan, Fowzieh whispered:
“‘Whatever it is, it’s something serious.’ I could tell just by looking at him.” That’s the moment time stood still for Sitara’s parents: “I was just catching the big words, like tumour and MRI. I wasn’t taking it all in,” Fowzieh says.
An MRI the next day revealed a tumour the size of a golf ball, growing at the back of Sitara’s head. What followed was a whirlwind of tests, surgeries and procedures for little Sitara, including 30 days of radiation and seven cycles of chemotherapy.
“You think it’s over when the treatments are finished, but it’s not,” says Fowzieh. “There’s so much going on in my brain, so many doctors’ appointments, blood tests, urine tests, kidney tests and hearing tests. Yoga helps to still my mind. And our teacher Allison shares such amazing perspectives.”
With your help, Fowzieh is finding her inner balance during weekly yoga classes, while her daughter Sitara rebuilds her strength during weekly exercise sessions at PEER.
After a year of medical procedures, physiotherapy and constant worry, Sitara is on the road to recovery and Fowzieh is finally able to sleep again. “Before I was like a zombie. I wasn’t sleeping at night and, in the day, I was caring for Sitara,” she says. “How did we survive this? How are we still surviving this?”
In addition to quieting her mind and calming her body during weekly yoga classes, Fowzieh is also benefitting from a healing and supportive community of other parents — thanks to you.
“It’s so good to see the other mommies every week and just talk. Every time I talk about our story, I feel better.”
The Mohammadi family has come a long way since last spring and the journey is far from over. Sitara is growing stronger every day and her parents are finding ways to support themselves, so they are better able to care for Sitara during this challenging time.
“In the beginning, when Sitara was first diagnosed with cancer, I used to cry a lot,” says Fowzieh. “But after a while I noticed that when I was happy my little girl was happy. Sitara’s face would light up and her eyes would shine whenever I was happy, so I’ve learned how to stay positive and how to take care of myself, so I can be strong for my daughter.”
Thank you! With your support, Sitara and her mom are building their reserves for the long journey ahead.