01:01 PM
Sunday 13 March 2022
Books – Muhammad Nassar:
“I will not raise the white flag,” simple words said by Anisa Hassouna, CEO of the People’s Hospital for Children, and a former member of Parliament, in one of her media interviews, but they reveal the determination and determination of this combatant woman in the face of cancer, the fierce disease that eats the body of whoever infects it to slowly kill it.
As is the usual end in human battles with cancer, the story of Anisa Hassouna ended today with this disease. He finally defeated her after years of long and difficult struggle, during which she tried hard to continue and fight in a battle in which she achieved simple, lightning victories, but soon it was fading away and the situation returned to its track. It is natural to fight this disease, so it comes back to impose its dominance.
Many times, Anisa Hassouna claimed that her cancer had recurred after a temporary recovery from it, and every time she returned to undergo chemotherapy sessions again.
Anisa Hassouna said that falling ill for the first time was a surprise to her, which required arranging her financial affairs before her inevitable departure from this life.
The woman persistently tried to get acquainted with the presence of the disease in her body, and coexist with it, with her eagerness to resist and not give up. The beginning was about 5 years ago, which she opened with a struggle with chemotherapy sessions.
Anisa Rot in her book “Without Warning” special moments that she experienced and coexisted with, willingly or under compulsion. And my husband and the girls are like me, and my mind is spinning at 360 degrees per second between different possibilities, and I can’t believe that this is actually happening to me, and that I’ve really contracted this serious disease.
Anisa kept looking at his face while he was still talking and I was wondering in my mind what am I doing here? These x-rays and their report must have belonged to another patient, and that something had gone wrong by handing them over to me as happens in the movies, and that someone would suddenly open the door of the room and apologize for this grave mistake and tell me that the results of my x-rays were in order.
She was waiting for her to breathe a sigh of relief and they all leave the medical center happy, and return to their normal lives, and she can then add this story to the crop of comic stories she tells about what is happening to her, but it is only moments when the doctor continues to talk about the disease, the strong possibilities of death, and the zero survival Almost, until Anisa Hassouna began to regain consciousness, to answer her many logical questions: Why did I get cancer? and how? Why me alone? I have never harmed anyone in my entire life, and I have always treated people kindly as I would like them to treat me, and I have always been friendly because a smile is charity. Is affliction with this disease a punishment for a sin I committed? Or will my expected suffering be in the balance of my good deeds, and reduce my sins in the Hereafter? Whatever the case, I don’t want to have cancer, and while I know I can leave life at any moment, for the slightest reason, I don’t want to know that my disease is doomed so soon.
According to a book about her, she was suspicious and “difficult for herself” that she became ill, so she was afraid of people’s looks at her, she was terrified of the looks of pity from those around her when they knew of her affliction, afraid of the effect of treatment on her, especially since she always heard of it or see it on the heads And the faces of cancer sufferers, and are now thinking about their future plans and their grandchildren, do you live to see them grow up and reap the results of their success, or will this dreaded disease deprive them of all that?
What people reject in the beginning are the most external changes to their appearance, especially from women, due to this disease and the chemotherapy sessions that cause them internal combustion. Only time and the cycle of confronting the disease can change it, so that the patient tries to live with his illness and overcome it, which is what Anisa Hassouna did: “So with the continued support of my family, I got the courage to get tired of pretending that everything was fine and decided to share with you my real-life experience with a serious cancer that opened a new, mysterious chapter in my life and my family’s life and changed my appearance and substance with the impact of drugs, surgery and chemotherapy sessions.
She struggled so long to pretend that everything was going as usual in order to keep her mind and balance, believing that it was time for her to come out in the open and open up about her cancer story, what happened to her and what the doctors thought her fate would be.
On a recent determination, Anisa Hassouna confirmed: “In all cases, I will not give up, and I will not raise the white flag in front of this disease, no matter how dangerous it is. I had a lot saved for our next trips together, and I don’t want to disappear from their lives yet, my life is theirs, and age has no value without their presence around me and with me.
Although it never occurred to her to be chosen among the 100 most powerful Arab women, she was very happy with this honor: “The reason is my contribution to social work, and I was not planning to win any title, and when I received the email confirming my selection among the 100 most powerful Arab women, I thought It was sent by mistake.”
In fact, she had many plans ahead of her, because she was enthusiastic and passionate about life, and her scenarios were always optimistic in natural colors: and therefore all these dreams came true because I could not live without them, and a few months passed and I rested in my peace of mind that assures me that after all that I had suffered for two years From major surgery, and chemotherapy, it was time for the “two-year grace period” that the doctors mentioned and stressed the need to pass before the possibility of my infection returning again.
In a spirit of joy, Anisa said: I assure you that during the past few months of the “alleged” grace period I have done my best to take advantage of every moment to embrace and kiss my grandchildren and enjoy being with my two precious daughters in most of the times that their daily preoccupations allow, so I went to the grandchildren’s sports training, to watch My little grandson is floating like a fish “Basaria”, showing off his skill in front of me, saying: “Tita lips, and I reply with great pride and a big laugh on my face: I see you, of course, O soul of Tita’s heart.”
But the winds always come against the ship, and though she tried her best to defeat the disease with unyielding determination, it seemed to be no point in resisting: and in the meantime my dear husband reminded me that it was time for a second periodic analysis of tumor markers after the sessions were over. The treatment, and I told him, “Of course, we do it all the time,” and I was very confident in my confidence that I had hidden salvation after everything that had happened to me, but the winds came with what ships did not desire, as the results of the analyzes appeared disappointing, indicating the possibility of the dreaded disease returning again, and I was shocked A murderer I was not prepared for, and I kept in disbelief at what was happening to me, telling those around me, “It can’t be true, I can’t go through those dark days again.”
Following the developments in her health, Anisa Hassouna started looking at a terrifying science fiction movie from which she could not understand anything. He had signs of leaving and withdrawing from the battlefield, and with my usual naivety that wanted to believe in bright dreams, I began to be reassured for the coming days, and to believe that I had become one of the 20% survivors of the disease.
Two years after her first surgery, it was decided for Anisa to enter the operating room again: “And we entered a stage of astonishment, yielding to the whirlpool of consultations, consultations, analyzes and rumours, so that our hopes would rise to the sky at times, when we are told that these are just infections that raise the percentages of indications to the top and will go on alone shortly. Then, let us perform another analysis, the results of which will drop us into a deep abyss of terrifying obsessions, but in the end, God forbid and what He wills to do so that this period of conflicting feelings ends with the doctors’ final decision to enter the terrifying surgery room within days due to the presence of new tumors.
Isn’t it time for the suffering to end? It seems that the answer is no. On the eleventh of October of the year 2020, Hassouna announced, with all the bitterness, that she had cancer for the third time, tweeting on Twitter: “Summarizing all the positive energy to control the disease, your prayers, because once again I will not raise the white flag yet.”
Anisa Hassouna is the CEO of People’s Hospital for Children, a former member of the House of Representatives, and the former CEO of the Magdi Yacoub Foundation for Cardiac Diseases and Research. She holds a BA in Economics and Political Science from Cairo University.