The Power of Hope - From Wish Kid to Pediatric Nurse
Nashid's battle against Hodgkins Lymphoma left her in a dark place. She wanted to channel all her energy into getting better, so she buried those feelings of fear and loneliness to focus on her physical health.
But after a year of difficult chemo and radiation treatments, that fear and loneliness were a constant. It was as if those heavy emotions that came with her diagnosis hit her all at once.
“It’s not just the medications, you need to be emotionally healed too,” Nashid said.
Thankfully, at one of her lowest points, her Child Life Specialist introduced the idea of a wish. Nashid was desperate for a distraction, and with a wish on the horizon, she had something new to look forward to.
The idea of a Sweet 18th birthday party came to Nashid right away. Her wish was her way to celebrate her return to health, and the family and friends who stood by her through it all.
When it came to the planning, Nashid wanted to be heavily involved - she had a say in the invitations, the dancers, and everything in between.
It was important to Nashid that her party was a fusion of her two cultures, so she chose a Bollywood-style theme. Nashid embraced her family culture by donning a hand-selected desi dress and engaging a henna artist to share a small piece of her Bengali culture with her friends.
But for Nashid, perhaps the most special part of her wish day was getting all glammed up and styled by professionals.
“Around that age, your hair and how you look means so much to you,” she said. Her treatment had caused her to lose her hair, and something as simple as “feeling cute for the day” meant a lot to her.
Since Nashid's wish came true in 2016, she's gone on to pursue a career as a pediatric nurse, inspired by a nurse who had helped her. Diagnosed with the same cancer, at the same age, her nurse became her motivation to fight and to come out a survivor.
When she was being treated on the pediatric floor, Nashid was surrounded by many young children that she couldn’t really relate to. She remembers feeling discouraged by how her body and brain was impacted by her cancer, but seeing how much of a fighter this woman was gave her hope for her future.
It’s the same hope that, upon the completion of her degree, she looks forward to passing on to her own patients. By no surprise, she plans to concentrate her studies on pediatric oncology.
“It’s always a good feeling to have someone understand you and not just empathize with you,” she said.