Letters to my Younger Self: Aisha Seedat

Welcome back to our series "Letters to my younger self".

If you could, what would you tell a younger you? What advice would you give? What tips could a younger you use to deal with the struggles you know are coming?

In this series, RARE Youth Revolution is reaching out to some of the slightly older members of our community who know what it is like to grow up with a rare disease.

By writing letters to their younger selves, we hope that they can offer some advice and guidance that benefits all young people with rare diseases.

Here's Aisha Seedat, who lives with Morquio syndrome.

I met my younger self for a hot chocolate. Her bobbed hair looked sleek against my now wavy curly hair. She was surprised to see me and said she was expecting an empty chair, and her nerves kicked her in the gut. 

I shook my head and held her hand in my own. I told her she celebrated all her birthday milestones: 16, 18, 21, 25 and now here I am at 27 sitting in front of you. Doctors can say what they want, but our lives are in God’s hands. 

Tears fell down her cheeks as she asked questions that made her future unknown. 

I told her she attended her dream uni—passed with flying colours. She’s worked in various jobs, but most of all, right now, she is working her dream job in rare diseases. She sat back and wondered - how could this be? I smiled and said, "There’s going to be a time in your life where you’ll realise where your real passions lie, and it may change your route, that’s okay". 

She fell silent, perhaps looking for more happiness in my eyes, but this is where I fell silent too—I knew she wanted to press me on stigma and shame in society. I said to her, slowly but steadily, "We are still working on it". I came around to hug her, I knew she needed it. I told her not to lose hope, I’m hoping these hands will be held and never let go. Don’t listen to the whispers of society - I'm learning not to. She needed that, and I needed that.

She looked at the time and outside, saying she had to go. I left her with one last bit of advice —keep going. Let the road paths unwind and you’ll see your destination very soon, although it’ll be filled with bumps, it’s all worth it.

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Socials

Instagram: @iiamaish

LinkedIn: Aisha Seedat

Facebook: Aisha Seedat

X: @aishseedat

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