Fall down seven…
Photo: Shahidul Alam
My dear friend Luby Ismail is one of the most inspiring people I know. Thirty years ago, she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. She progressively went from using a cane to a walker to a wheelchair to now a powerchair. But in every conversation I’ve ever had with her over the past 15 years, the sentiment that I always walk away with is one of gratitude; her smile never dulls, her focus is always in helping you through your challenge, and her most often used word is Alhumdulillah(praise be to God). I visited Luby yesterday, with a group of sister-friends, and I’m still feeling her glow.
Her MS continues to take a toll; she’s now lost her ability to drive her van or to type, and needs help with most daily activities. But Luby doesn’t focus on what she can’t do, but on what she can — recently she was a finalist in Toastmasters International Speech Contest! Her topic: the triple A: Accept. Adapt. Achieve.
“It began with the tingling in my toes and my fingertips,” Luby begins, as we encourage her to share her winning remarks. “I’ll never forget that voice on the other line, my neurologist, who uttered the words Multiple Scelorsis. I was devastated, depressed. At first, I was in denial. But my symptoms persisted. I realised I couldn’t change my body, but I could change my attitude.”
She accepted her fate; adapted to her circumstances; and is achieving her dreams and desires, from travels to toastmasters.
“Think about it. Don’t we all have surprises, struggles, setbacks. You better believe it!,” she says with her irrepressible smile.
“We can’t change the world; often we can’t change our circumstances; sometimes we can’t change our bodies. But we can always change our attitude.”
Luby shares a beautiful reflection in the 30 Days book about how she simultaneously managed MS, the pandemic, and her doctor’s orders to stay in bed, on her side, for a year, due to a pressure wound.
“‘Fall down seven, get up eight’ is a Japanese proverb I often think about. My daughter tells me, it should be get up 100 for all the times I’ve fallen. But I’m getting back up!
At the beginning, I was feeling frustration and impatience and resentment; but now I’m looking out my window, seeing sunny days and cloudy days, connecting with friends and family.
As painful as this wound may be and as debilitating as my MS has become, I cannot help but feel a great sense of gratitude because I have a family here to support me, a kitchen filled with nourishment, and health insurance.
Rumi says, the wound is the place where the light enters you. And that’s what I’m feeling. Alhumdulillah.”
For more information about the 30 Days Book and Journal, please visit www.salmahasanali.com.
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