A mum who lost her toddler to a terminal disease has gone back to university after she made a promise to her dying daughter she’d one day find a treatment.
Preeti Raghwani was empowered to help other sick children in WA after losing her almost two-year-old daughter Ziya to mitochondrial disease in September 2019, a life-limiting condition that causes a raft of health issues including seizures.
“There was one night where I instinctively woke up at a time I wasn’t supposed to and she was having a big seizure that lasted about nine hours and she ended up in the ED,” Ms Raghwani said.
“It was hospital visit after hospital visit after that — I actually don’t know how many times we must’ve been in there.
“We got the diagnosis for mitochondrial disease and turns out that the kind Ziya had was terminal. It was something that no parent should have to go through, let alone a sibling.”
Many parents would become paralysed with grief after losing their child but for Ms Raghwani, her daughter’s tragic death inspired her.
She decided to make sure Ziya’s death wasn’t in vain by going back to university to study medicine to find answers for other families.
“I made her a promise when she passed away that I would study medicine and that I would help change one life at a time so I can pay back those years that I’ve lost with Ziya to someone else,” Ms Raghwani said.
“She just carries me through — I sail through because of her.”
Now a second-year Notre Dame medical student, Ms Raghwani hopes to focus on paediatrics, especially children with complex needs like Ziya.
Ms Raghwani and her surviving eight-year-old daughter Mahi’s promise to help other kids won’t be done alone.
Mahi’s Burns Beach Primary School classmates are joining in to make crazy hats to raise funds for this weekend’s Telethon extravaganza.
Ms Raghwani and Mahi are grateful they can give back as Ziya benefitted from several Telethon beneficiaries including Telethon Speech and Hearing, Hannah’s House, Ability Centre, and Perth Children’s Hospital.
“I really back this cause because all of these beneficiaries we would have been involved with some of them in a very intimate way before,” Ms Raghwani said.
“Quality life is what matters in the end not quantity and the beneficiaries that Telethon helped made that true for Ziya.
“Hopefully at some point, I’m working with Telethon in a different capacity.”
The crazy hats made by Mahi’s school will be showcased on Telethon weekend when the kids take over for an hour.
Mahi will also get a chance to tell West Australians watching about her sister, Ziya.
“She gets to see what her voice can do for the children of WA — she will hopefully inspire others to dig a little bit deeper,” Ms Raghwani said.
All the students are set to flaunt their crazy hats at a school fashion parade on Friday, where judges will have to make the hard decision of choosing the hats that will be aired on Telethon.
Burns Beach Primary principal Trudy Burke said all of the school’s fundraising efforts for the year go towards Telethon.
“Last year Telethon gave to 107 organisations so by donating to them we know what we are doing is going to benefit a lot of kids,” she said.
“For us as a school, fundraising for Telethon means we can make sure our kids are aware that everybody’s different and we’re all so valued.
“Telethon gives us an opportunity to help our kids be aware that we can do something to help everybody else.”