Supporting the Ajaz Family Through Cancer, Loss of Home, and Loss of Their Son

Some of you may have followed Fuaad's journey over the last six years. Back in 2020 during the height of the pandemic, we thought he had COVID. Unfortunately it turned out that he had leukemia. After getting ravaged by chemo and having to undergo the scariest time of his life all alone in the hospital (you couldn't have guests back then) as a 21 year old kid, the blessing was that he made it into remission. Between 2021 and 2025 he lived life to the fullest: Getting a dream job in a veterinary office, attending concerts with friends, and spending time with his family (both human and furry). Unfortunately in March of last year he had some pains in his back, and after a few doctor's visits, we were devastated to learn that his cancer had returned. He had chemo, but required a bone marrow transplant to survive. Miraculously, after not matching with any family members, he matched with a complete stranger and had the transplant in August of last year, and was able to return home in October. The good news was, tragically, short lived. Just before Christmas he was admitted to the hospital with an infection. His transplant (graft), started attacking his healthy cells, and he was diagnosed with first acute, and then chronic Graft-Versus-Host disease. He was never to return home again. His legs became infected, and then his lungs. He got a pneumonia in both lungs, and in February, his oxygen levels dropped dangerously low, and he was placed in a medically induced coma on a ventilator in the ICU for over a week. The situation was dire, and difficult conversations were had about what might happen if he couldn’t come off the ventilator. Miraculously, he pulled through, and the ventilator was removed. Shortly after this, the Ajaz family's landlord decided that he wanted to sell some of his investment properties, and told them that he wanted them out by the end of the next month (May 31st). They were blindsided, having been model renters for well over a decade. The timing couldn't have been worse: Fuaad was unable to work, his mother had to quit her job so that she could attempt to juggle full time care of not just Fuaad, but his special needs sister, and Fuaad's health was in the most precarious state of his entire journey thus far. A small mercy was that after his double pneumonia, he rallied. He was transferred to inpatient rehab and was doing PT and OT in hopes that he would be able to walk again. But a couple of weeks ago things took a turn for the worse. Another infection. His lungs weren't working and he was put on an ECMO so that his blood could be pumped out, reoxygenated, and pumped back in. This was full life support. Because he was only 27, his doctors partnered with his oncologists to find out: If we can stabilize his lungs, can you treat his cancer? The oncology team said yes, and so Fuaad continued to fight. With their "eviction" date looming, I told Shariq that he had to be transparent with his landlord and let him know that his son was now fighting for his life, and they needed more time so they could focus on his care instead of packing up their home of over 15 years. In the most disgustingly callous response, their landlord said: Best I can do is 2 weeks. To be honest, none of us knew if any of this was legal, but the focus needed to be on Fuaad and his care. While Fuaad was on the ECMO, his kidneys and liver started to fail, and he was put on dialysis. Fuaad's father, Shariq, was forced to split his time between work, packing up their home, and shifts at the hospital to relieve his wife, Noshin. Already struggling with medical issues, Shariq's doctors put him on more medications. We became terrified that the stress, extreme workload, and lack of sleep were going to kill him. They found an apartment, we rented a storage unit, and hired movers (friends of Fuaad's, who he had reached out to from his hospital bed, knowing the task his parents were faced with). It made me sick that the cruelty, greed, and apathy of their landlord robbed Shariq and Noshin of precious time with their son during his final weeks. Yesterday, Fuaad underwent a tracheotomy because despite being sedated, he kept biting on the tubes in his mouth. The surgery went as well as we could have hoped. This morning his blood pressure became concerningly low despite the maximum dose of medication they could give him to bring it up, and they found something in his intestines on the CT scan and were awaiting a surgical consult. Devastatingly, the surgeon said he was not a candidate for surgery, and we had reached the end of the road as far as treatment options. At 11:30 am, Fuaad spared his devoted parents the unimaginable decision of when to remove support, and he peacefully left behind the shackles of his earthly body, and took his place surely in the highest level of Jannah - the Garden of Paradise - where his maternal grandparents, paternal grandmother, and beloved cat Daisy would have welcomed him warmly. إِنَّا لِلَّٰهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ (Indeed, to Allah we belong and to Allah we shall return.) Now, the family is dealing with the immense financial strain from Fuaad's illness, and untimely passing: His car payment, health insurance premiums, co-pays, medications not covered by insurance (one medication just cost them $11k out of pocket for a single dose because it was not covered by insurance, and therefore not subject to their out of pocket maximum), debt from nearly a year out of work for both Fuaad and Noshin, and now, horrifically, final expenses. Your support will help ease these burdens and allow the family to focus on healing. Whether you can support the Ajaz family with kind words, a monetary donation, sharing this link, help packing boxes, or a hot meal, they could use everything their community can offer right now.