A touching message has gone viral from a loving dad who tragically lost his daughter one year ago.
Little Khadijah Araf was born with a complex heart condition and in May 2018 before her third birthday died of spectic shock.
Her dad Sunny Araf wanted to thank Birmingham Children’s Hospital and he beamed their last photo together onto billboards on Monday October 15.
Now, one year on, he wrote this touching message (below) on social media – and it has gone viral.
The post, on his own Facebook account, reached 32,000 people and was shared 12,000 times.
“It seems to have hit home with a lot of people,” said former policeman Sunny, from Erdington.
People responded with their own heartbreaking stories and words of empathy such as ‘this just had me in tears’, ‘she is beautiful’, ‘can’t imagine the pain you are going through’ and ‘sending lots of love.’
One woman wrote: “Heart wrenching to read this but thank you so much for sharing as my sister lost her son and found the loss very difficult, I will share this with her.”
Another added: “Breaks my heart reading this … I have a young son and I will cherish every moment with him.”
It’s been exactly one year since we lost our beautiful daughter Khadijah.
The day Khadijah died I could never have imagined by the evening our whole life would be turned upside down within the space of a few hours.
The night before baby K had not been well. After taking her to the hospital we were sent home, the doctors telling us she had some sort of infection and there is nothing they can do. Khadijah regularly had infections so we took her home.
All night my wife stayed up with Khadijah and we knew something was not right.
The following morning my wife insisted we take her back to the hospital, so we did. As I put Khadijah into her car seat, I noticed her skin had started to peel. It looked as if she has giant blisters all over her legs.
It took me approximately 15 minutes to drive to the hospital and her condition had deteriorated.
The nurse in A & E could see Khadijah was extremely unwell and wasted no time taking her into the back. Within minutes we had 2 doctors trying to pump Khadijah with antibiotics and fluids.
After another 5 minutes this number had doubled. I lent down beside Khadijah and told her not to worry and Papa was here for her.
During all the commotion there was a time she sat up and looked at me and called my name. That was the last look she gave me. The doctors could see how distressed me, and my wife were, so they asked a nurse to take us away into another room.
I remember texting Amir and Janed saying Khadijah might not make it.
After about 20 minutes Dave the senior consultant came into the room with another doctor and sat down beside us. He told us that our daughter was extremely unwell, her heart had stopped but they managed to bring her back however they didn’t think she would make it. She would be transferred to the Intensive care unit.
I called my family and told them all to come straight to the hospital.
Khadijah was taken into a room in ICU and within moments our family all started to arrive at the hospital.
I remember the emergency buzzer sounding and I knew instantly it was Khadijah’s bed. I ran to her bed and called for my wife.
As we all made our way into the room all the doctors and nurses had gathered into the room and were performing CPR on her.
Her heart had stopped, and they were trying to bring her back. For 10 minutes they tried but nothing worked.
I started to give the Azhan, if this was Khadijah’s final moments in this dunya then I wanted her to hear the Azhan. I remember Dave the consultant telling the doctors to stop performing CPR. Khadijah had returned to Allah.
It was at this moment I knew that I had lost my daughter.
I turned to my family and said, Khadijah is no longer with us, what belongs to Allah must return to Allah. I told them there is a great reward for us if at THIS very moment we remain calm and praise Allah. I then went into sajood, while in Sajood I thanked Allah for the time he had given me with Khadijah and asked him for the strength to cope with this calamity.
Soon after I had to wash and shroud my daughter which was the most difficult thing I have ever had to do.
The past year I have shared my story with many people in the hope that I can inspire other’s. Hundreds of people have reached out to me and shared their stories.
Together we have helped each other heal. The death of a child is something I would not wish on anyone; however, our religion offers comfort to those who lose a child.
The promise of being reunited in Jannah with Khadijah is what keeps me smiling. One day I will meet my princess and that day will be the happiest of my life Insha’Allah.
If you have lost a child, mother, father, husband, wife or friend I want you to know that with time your heart will heal. Cherish the memories and start preparing to meet them again, it’s the preparing for this meeting that will enable you to live a life that brings you closer to your creator.
