09/02/2026
5 years cancer free.
There’s a line often attributed to Confucius: “Every man has two lives, and the second begins when he realizes he has just one.”
When I was 23 and first diagnosed with cancer, I remember having a strangely peaceful, if morbid, thought: if this was it, I had already lived a pretty extraordinary life.
Five years later, I realize how much I still hadn’t seen.
I’m so grateful to Allah for the gift of this life, and to every person who has helped me fill these last five years with experiences I couldn’t have imagined then.
There has been heartbreak. There has been defeat. There have been moments when life went nothing like I hoped it would.
But there has also been so much love. So much joy. So much laughter. So much life.
Five years ago, I learned that none of it is guaranteed.
So take the picture. Make the call. Tell people you love them. Chase the thing that scares you a little. And through all of it, keep smiling.
Alhamdulillah for five years cancer free. Here’s to the second life.
