Dr. Nadia Chaudhri, a 43-year-old mother, neuroscientist, and professor from Concordia University, has touched thousands of people after sharing on Twitter that she was preparing to tell her son that she is dying from ovarian cancer.
On May 11, Dr. Chaudhri tweeted to her 44 thousands followers from a Montreal hospital bed before explaining the state of her health to her 6-year-old son: “Today Is the day I tell my son that I’m dying from cancer. It’s reached a point where he has to hear it from me. Let all my tears flow now so that I can be brave this afternoon. Let me howl with grief now so that I can comfort him.”
To date, over 500 thousand people have liked the Tweet, sharing their love and support to Dr. Chaudhri and her family, and was also featured on Good Morning America shortly after.
People were moved by her vulnerability and shared various words of encouragement, support, and personal stories to help lift her up during this difficult time.
One person wrote: "My dad lost his mom from cancer when he was a kid. No one told him anything until she was dead. It's a beautiful thing that you are giving your son the gift of truth. I've been taught that love is truth. Your son will be ok. My dad was and raised us this way."
According to the Montreal Gazette, Dr. Chaudhri was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in June 2020 and had started six cycles of chemotherapy in July, just a few weeks later.
“Ovarian cancer is diagnosed in about 3,100 women in Canada each year; an estimated 1,950 die from the disease. Symptoms are often vague and the disease is advanced when it is diagnosed. Cure rates have not changed much in 30 years. About 80 per cent of ovarian cancer deaths are in women with high-grade serous carcinoma, which continues to be diagnosed after the cancer has silently spread.”
Dr. Chaudhri is raising funds on GoFundMe to support underrepresented scholars in her field:
“I want to establish a fund to provide awards for young scientists to participate in the annual conference for the Research Society on Alcoholism. This fund will be earmarked for young scientists from backgrounds that are diverse, under-resourced, marginalized or traditionally under-represented in psychological and neural sciences. Supporting and promoting these individuals at every turn is the best way to ensure that their voices and talents continue to fuel scientific discovery.”
To donate, you can visit her website here.
