An incredible young woman battled cancer throughout her university studies. Now, she’s a new doctor whose story will inspire her patients and others not to give up.
Pretoria, South Africa (4 May, 2023)—”Being a doctor is such a privilege,” says 24-year-old Saman Akhtar, a recent medical graduate from the University of Pretoria. But, her privilege is more than just a certificate. It’s the opportunity to help lives; especially those whose resilience and bravery she knows first-hand as a cancer survivor herself.
While most students battled the expected stresses of university, Saman was on the fighting lines in more ways than one.
Early in her matric year, Saman was diagnosed with Metastatic Ewing Sarcoma to her lungs. During prelims and finals, she endured chemo for the first time, an incredibly difficult period for anyone, let alone a student trying to qualify for medicine.
But, her determined nature and hope earned her that acceptance letter. The next few years would serve as proof to herself that she could push through just about anything.
The incredible young doctor’s dreams kept her going, and provided her an unexpected escape from her world in the same breath.
“As bizarre as it sounds, studying became my escape from the reality.
“I decided that even though I was in what seemed like a very uncontrollable stage of my life, I was still going to try to achieve everything that I had set out to do.”—Saman Akhtar.
She refused to take it easy in class, despite her situation. She shared:
“Despite having to go through chemotherapy, radiation and multiple surgeries, I did not defer classes.
“I remember having just had a session of chemo, feeling very nauseas, and then going to anatomy dissection class, where I had to bear the pungent formaldehyde smell.”
However, something changed in 2020. While most of the world had become familiar with bad news, Saman received the best news of her life—she’d gone into remission, and has been since.
Of this chapter, Saman shared that it gave her something that’ll make her a better doctor:
“I feel like I have the experience of what some of the patients go through, and I can use my experience to motivate and inspire my future patients to not give up.”
“I remember one of my first patients in my Internal Medicine Rotation, a fear filled young man in his early twenties, who was just diagnosed with cancer (Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma). I shared my cancer story with him, which gave him the courage to fight.”
She largely attributes her mindset as a doctor to her family. Her grandparents were both doctors, as is her father. Their compassion and selfless nature have inspired her to follow, and we have no doubt she’ll touch as many hearts as she does lives.
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