Grateful Gals, AKA Childhood Cancer Fighting Moms, Plus, Dr. Aziza Shad’s UN Agent of Change Award Recipient
We are affectionately called “Aziza’s Army.” A dozen strong to whatever our fearless leader asks us to do. Our leader, AKA Dr. Aziza Shad, is in the business of saving children’s lives, our kids’ lives, and countless others around the world. For more intense purposes, we are a dozen cancer-fighting moms who have been there for each other for over two and a half decades - in and out of the trenches in the war on pediatric cancer. It's the season of giving, but not all gifts are tangible.
Dr. Shad, who was on-call this weekend and will be for the rest of this week, selected the date, time, and place so she could join us for our annual holiday luncheon. Sundays could be light at the hospital, but that was not the situation when we met up this time. One could say she “stood us up,” but that was certainly not the case. We all knew she was doing what she loves best: helping kids and families fight insurmountable challenges in their battles against cancer and helping to make the best decisions for care with each family she treats.
I am profoundly thankful for this woman in our lives. If you have a friend, family member, or acquaintance who oozes kindness and gratitude like Dr. Shad, grab onto them. Learn from them. Praise them for their unbelievable gifts to help many in our ever-changing world.
Her work is certainly not for the faint of heart—ever!
I’ve come to realize Dr. Shad is an adrenaline junky! She’s not out climbing rock walls or 14K mountains or careening down a mountain on a bicycle; nope, her adrenaline is coursing through her body, working with the protocols best suited to her patients and finding means for comfort to get through the most difficult parts of the fight each day. Plus, she does this with such love, agency, and grace, all the while manufacturing sunshine for those in need.
Although we missed her at our holiday luncheon, we all understood the magnitude of her being in doctoring her young charges. At some point, someone in Aziza's Army needed her on a Sunday during the holidays, perhaps like the kids she helped yesterday.
Let me add that an offshoot of The United Nations recently recognized Dr. Shad. Read insights Dr. Shad and other Agent of Change Award recipients shared in the e-book Vision for the Future: Capturing Inspiring Stories from Leaders and Changemakers, published by the United Nations Global Partnerships Forum.
Vision for the Future: Capturing Inspiring Stories from Leaders and Changemakers, linked here at www.visionforthefuture.ai.
Dr. Shad’s Excerpt: (If reading this on a mobile app, click on the page and expand to read).
Dr. Jane Goodall is known for saying, “What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make”
Aziza Shad knows how to make a difference! I am/we are learning from the best, and I am deeply grateful for her continued efforts and examples as I strive to make a difference for others, too.
If you want to read Dr. Shad’s life and work more clearly, please click on the photo to expand the text.
Grateful.
Blessed.
Joyful.
bSoleille!
Terri
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