“I’m afraid to fall asleep. I’m afraid of what will happen to her when we’re gone. Who will give her the medicine? Who will hug her?”
Latifa’s voice trembles with the fear that follows her every day and every night. It’s a fear every parent knows, but for her and her husband, Georges, it’s absolute. They look at their 50-year-old daughter Rania and still see a little girl whose future was stolen in a single moment.
Rania was a lively child, bright and full of promise even in preschool. Everything changed when she was six. During surgery, an anesthesiologist’s mistake permanently damaged her brain. One moment shattered it all. Today Rania is completely dependent on her aging parents. She never leaves the house and needs 15 different meds every single day just to live.
For Georges, she is his “precious one.” For Latifa, she is the reason she gets out of bed each morning, even though her own health is failing rapidly. The list of medications she herself has to take is already over 20 items long. In this home, illness and love are locked in a constant race against time.
“Dr. Harouny is like a brother to us. Without the help we receive from him, life would be unbearably hard,” Georges says. That support is a lifeline that keeps them afloat.
Our last visit was exactly such a lifeline. We brought meds for Rania – for her high blood pressure, diabetes, and the psychiatric drugs that allow her to function. But seeing Latifa’s exhaustion, we knew we had to do more. Our pharmaceutical care now includes not only the daughter, but also the mother.
Adopting this family means more than just material aid. It’s a promise to two loving, ailing parents that they are not alone in their struggle. That even when their strength runs out, someone will be there to care for their greatest treasure.
