UAE resident turns cancer into a positive change

After being married just for eight months, when Lama Riachi went for a routine check-up, she was told that she had ovarian cysts that had actually multiplied from the last time she had got them checked.
Sensing something not right, Lama sent her reports to her sister in Beirut (her home city) and the gynaecologist at once asked Lama to fly down for a surgery. It was only after the doctor began the surgery that he discovered that the cysts were cancerous. While he was trying to remove the cyst, it burst, leading to a contamination in Lama's abdomen.
A window of 10 days was all Lama had now to get her hysterectomy done - an operation to remove her uterus. But she had to be told about the cancer first. "I knew something was not right the next day when I saw my husband arrive from Dubai and then my sister also arrived from Dubai to see me. But cancer was something that I could never imagine in my wildest dreams.
"I will forever remain grateful to my sister for breaking the news to me the way she did. She said she had a good and bad news. She sat me down and said the bad news is they found cancerous cells and good news is that it is still in early stage.
"I don't remember I heard anything after that except for the sound of my wailing and the only thing I was saying was 'My life is over'. I was 34 then."
Although she calmed down very quickly, in the meeting with the doctor the only thing that came to her mind was: "I haven't had kids yet. And I forgot about cancer and started asking "can you save my eggs".
Somehow after that day, Lama felt light-hearted and was also beginning to smile. "I calmed down very quickly and there was something in this tragedy that I was constantly being grateful for.
"My parents told me that it was my attitude that gave them courage to accept and deal with it. You just don't have a choice, either you go into complete darkness or find that little ray of hope and fight for it.
"What was so beautiful about this whole experience was that my family came together. My mother's brothers from Alleppo, Syria, had escaped the conflict and were here with us in Beirut. And it was beautiful to see them all come together and pray for me. I don't think it would have been the same, had not everyone come together just with the sole focus of wishing me well.
"The usual reaction of people would be 'how can you be positive in a time like this'. But the reality is that in every tragedy there is a lesson. It happens for a reason. I would tell my husband that all this is happening for a reason and I am going to make it count."
Lama knew exactly how to deal with it and now she has made it her business to understand the power of healing through nutrition. With her sheer willpower, she has managed to turn around cancer into a positive change and now heads up a fashion label (called Blessed) to support a group of UAE cancer patients on her WhatsApp.
Her message to all: "Healing starts with gratitude. Find something to be grateful for in everything that you do because it is at the heart of everything - be it physical healing or emotional healing and that will lead to happiness."
The survival story
Lama Riachi was diagnosed with cancer while she was 34 and was going under a surgery to remove ovarian cysts.
She managed to survive the test with the help of her family and she realised the power of healing through nutrition.
Now, she heads a fashion label called Blessed to support a group of UAE cancer patients on WhatsApp.
saman@khaleejtimes.com