Mum’s death puts care in doubt
Thousands in donations as grieving family seeks way around travel restrictions
An Auckland single mother of a severely disabled 3-year-old has succumbed to a short battle with cancer, leaving the future guardianship of her daughter uncertain.
Rizwana Shaikh, 37, died on Sunday — leaving it unclear who would take up the role of permanent carer for her daughter Alisha, 3, and son Aabir, 5.
Shaikh was separated from her family in India and Australia due to Covid-19 travel restrictions.
Until her diagnosis in February, Shaikh had been the fulltime carer for Alisha, who was born with visual impairment, epilepsy, severe spastic quadriplegia, cerebral palsy and cognitive developmental delays.
During her illness, fellow mothers from the Muslim playgroup Baitul Ilm had helped with the care of her children.
A Givealittle page set up by Baitul Ilm has been attempting to raise money for the future care of Alisha. Donations stand at $64,000.
They notified Shaikh’s death on the page on Sunday.
“She fought bravely to the end — with her angelic smile ever present, no matter how much pain she was in,” the page said.
“Her one wish was always for her baby girl Alisha to be independent.
“To this end, we are the doubling efforts to get her the most appropriate therapies to help her achieve her mother’s dreams and to support her ongoing medical needs.”
Last week, Shaikh’s sister Tabassum Shaikh spoke about last being in Auckland, along with her parents, in February following her sister’s initial cancer diagnosis.
Tabassum Shaikh flew out on March 25 aboard the last flight before New Zealand’s level 4 lockdown was implemented, thinking they would be back soon.
Tabassum said last week she spent about three hours a day to Indian, Australian and New Zealand embassies and immigration authorities, looking for a way back for her family to be by her sick sister’s side.
The Shaikh family is trying to arrange $5000 seats on an Air India chartered flight to New Zealand in early June, but nothing is yet certain.
Aside from the pain of family separation, Rizwana Shaikh told the Herald last week she worried for Alisha’s future progress and lamented that she would not get to see her grow and achieve.
“The doctors were concerned that she would have much more significant delays, but through her therapy and all of my efforts, she exceeded the experts’ expectations.
“I was doing a lot of therapy with her and I wanted to take her abroad. We were trying different ways of improving the quality of her life.
“There were different milestones I wanted for her: movement and independence. She had just learnt to crawl. She was making good progress.”
The main source of support for Shaikh during the past months had been from the mothers of the Baitul Ilm playgroup.
“I am very blessed to have them. They are more than family.”