This is my 6 year old daughter, and in one week’s time she is going to undergo a second neurosurgery to help with her moyamoya (and yes, I also thought it was a Japanese dish when the Doctors first told us!) 1 in a million people in the UK have it. I chose to write about this in this weeks travel theme: Strong. Not because I want to write about how amazing and strong she is – she is indeed brave, a bundle of energy and a mighty force to reckon with – I am writing here in reflection of how amazing our last year and half of travel has been due to the strength and positivity we have gained as a family because of what she (and us) have been through.
She had the first surgery in April 2013 and since then we have been travelled through 3 continents and over 9 countries. We started 3 months after her surgery and travelled to Bangladesh for 6 weeks
We went to West coast and east coast of USA for 3 weeks
Road Trip through Europe travelling through 6 countries – France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia and Italy for 3 weeks
Bordeaux, France for a big family wedding for a week.
We also had several weekend trips to Wales, Norwich, Scotland and Lake District. I am not even going to mention the weekend trips to London and local day trips around beautiful Derbyshire and Yorkshire!
It’s not that we hadn’t travelled before her surgery, we have always been travelling with kids, since they were 2 months old! It’s just that the whole last one year we have been more appreciative and filled with gratitude and positivity, that allowed us to enjoy our journeys more! The strength that carried us through her first surgery, also enabled us to embark on new adventures in life starting with planning a road trip from Sheffield to Bangladesh. AND that has resulted in me realizing how much I enjoy blogging about our travels! www.selimsraasta.com came into being 🙂
However due to changes in her health this summer, she is undergoing a second surgery next week, and our epic roadtrip is now on hold, but only momentarily. I know we will do this epic journey sometime in the near future. In the meantime, we are starting to get ready for the new phase in our lives, moving to a new country after 10 years in England and a whole year of travelling around Southeast Asia and/or New Zealand and Australia (waiting for confirmation of which one in a few days!)
Why do I use the word strong here to describe all this? Because we have managed to hold our heads high, always hoping and believing that it will be alright, having remained calm and positive through the hardest of times. We have drawn so much strength from the outpour of love and support we have received from friends, family and strangers from across the globe. We are stronger because of this, and we are eternally grateful for how everything has turned out so far. Our travels have been super special the last year and a half and we look forward to continuing again once Shama recovers from surgery.
Both our kids fill us with pride and it makes us happy to see that having moyamoya has not stopped Shama from tree climbing, doing her monkey business, and being her confident and energetic self.
May she be this strong and happy all her life and next week will be just another chapter in our lives, that will make our travels more meaningful, and that will make us live each day with that much more gratitude and positivity.
This was written as part of the weekly Travel Theme by http://wheresmybackpack.com/2014/09/19/travel-theme-strong/
Stumble It! 
Wish you to be even stronger after next week! Sending good vibes on your way all the way from Bulgaria!
Thank you so much 🙂
Best wishes to your family and your beautiful daughter – hope all goes well.
Thank you 🙂
Sending positive thoughts to your family and your daughter! Love her beautiful smile – she radiates happiness!!
Sending you well wishes for your lovely daughter !
Thank you so much 🙂
Beautiful people, lovely smiles and strong minds. May you always be happy !! You all are in our thoughts and prayers. Beautifully written. Sending positive vibes and loads of love your way. Tahiya chachi
Thanks to tahiya chachu, means a lot to us 🙂
Best of luck with the surgery next week and positive and healing thoughts for Shama! You can see her winning spirit shining through her smiles!
Thanks so much 🙂
Your family is in our thoughts. Thanks for sharing this personal, but hugely inspiring, post 🙂
Wishing Shama the best of health, always! Best wishes for your upcoming travel plans! The theme ‘strong’ so perfectly portrays the spirit of your beautiful daughter Shama, all the pictures and your write up is so full of life, looking forward to more of it in the near future! Love and best wishes for both your kids!
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Best wishes for you all! May you all be more stronger and smiling as always.
Thank you so much 🙂 am happy to say she has undergone surgery successfully and is recovering really well!
That is a wonderful news! Wish her a speedy recovery and look forward to more stories of your travel adventures.
Hoping your daughter is doing well. Lovely photos!
She is doing well thank you 🙂 It’s funny, as I received this message, I was typing one to you! I loved your last post of gratitude, very inspirational..I look forward to reading your posts onto the new year! Wishing you both a wonderful 2015 🙂
Yes I thought that was quite a coincidence as I realized what had happened. So glad she is doing well and all the very best to you and your family in 2015. 🙂