Shwan Taha
Biking for Daika
Fundraising for Alzheimer's Society
Story
We decided to raise money for Alzheimer's, a disease we have first hand knowledge of its devastating effects on people and families. Dr. Qumri Ali Ameen, our mother (and mother in law), died on July 23rd, 2022 of complications from the disease. She had been suffering from it for the past ten years. She had a full, giving life before she was inflicted with this disease.
My mom was born in 1942, in the city of Sulaymaniyah, in the Kurdistan region of Iraq; the youngest of four siblings. She excelled early on in school. Although she lost her father when she was five years old, her mother and elder brothers helped and pushed her to achieve well. She attended Baghdad University Medical School, a high-ranking institution at the time, completing her studies in 1966. She married my father Dr. Ibrahim Taha the same year; an already accomplished Iraqi doctor ten years her senior.
She was ambitious and an achiever. Being a mother of two (to myself and my sister Shireen) did not stop or delay her, she travelled to Ireland and got her higher specialty in Dublin at the Royal College of Surgeons, becoming an obstetrics and gynecology specialist in the early 70s and having her 3rd child, Narmeen, in 1972.
My mom devoted her life to her profession and patients until she was forced to leave Baghdad in 2006 because of the massive instability caused by the American Invasion of Iraq. In her prime and before she left Iraq, my mom used to conduct up to 6 operations some days. Her clinic, which she went to on a daily basis, was always crowded with patients from all over Iraq. My sisters and I don’t remember spending significant amounts of time with her because there was always a pregnant woman in need of her expertise and services.
She started deteriorating after the passing of our father in 2008. She was frustrated that she could not practice anymore, for losing her base, the hospital, her clinic, her patients, her friends, and everything she worked and sacrificed for.
My mom never wavered on any of her principles and her Hippocratic Oath. Thousands today were delivered by her, yet her legacy, and my father’s, lives with their humanitarian endeavors. The number of people they helped—not only medically but through other acts of kindness—was very high.
In normal times, we all know how difficult it is to be a human. My mom and my dad lived all their lives in excruciating times when you had dictatorships, regional wars, civil wars, inhumane sanctions, and personal misfortunes. Through it all, they remained human: aspiring to be the best examples for everyone around them. It’s a pity that in a materialistic world like today’s world, people like them are neither celebrated nor cherished. I was almost content when my father passed away of pancreatic cancer and also when my mom was not aware anymore because I am sure today’s world and where we ended up would have made them die every day.
Alzheimer’s is a devastating disease. The disease disrupts families and lives years. It’s very hard to see beautiful minds wither. It’s hard on everybody around. Any effort to slow it down, reverse it, or cure it would be a huge gift to humanity. As we are living healthier and longer, more and more people are suffering from Alzheimer’s. Like all other diseases, I am certain that the cure for it is within human imagination and power.
Please donate to join us in funding the discovery of potential cures through the Alzheimer’s Society.
Shwan and Belal