The Story That Changed My Life

In life there are many moments which make you change your initial path in your career, studies, choices and lifestyle. Just like that there are a million inspiring stories out there of people who changed for good, but there are a few which actually touch the heart. A few months ago my grandmother was watching television and I just happened to enter her room when, on the news they were talking about a lady who had overcome all her difficulties in life and all she needed was a little push given to her by a little child.

About seven years ago a girl from Afghanistan named Niya at the age of twenty two married a boy named Aryan who she had been friends with since middle school. Their wedding was like a fairy-tale and a dream come true for Niya. A year after they got married Aryan got a job offer from America. It was very difficult for Niya to leave her ageing mother alone but to make her husband happy she agreed to move to Florida. Her husband promised her that he would send her to Afghanistan every year to meet her family. 

After a year of living in America Niya got pregnant with her first child. The couple was so excited to welcome their new bundle of joy. Months passed by like hours. There was just a few weeks left for them to bring their son into the world. One day when Aryan was at work his wife left to buy some groceries to stock up the kitchen. The supermarket was an hour away from their house. Going to the market was a very common thing that Niya use to do every second day of her life, but who knew this ride was going to be a nightmare…………

While driving Niya lost control over the steering wheel and crashed. The accident was terrifying, all that she could think about at that moment was that she was going to be the reason her unborn child never got to see the real world. Within ten minutes an ambulance and police car had reached the crash site. The car was destroyed, the wind shield was smashed and so was the bonnet. According to the doctors Niya had lost consciousness soon after the crash which caused an impact on her spine and skull. 

Niya was rushed to nearest hospital and her husband was called immediately. On hearing the news he was in shock and did not understand what had hit him. One of his colleagues took him to the hospital as he was in no state to drive. Hiseyes were tearing up as the suspense of what had exactly happened to his unborn child and wife was unknown to him. On reaching the hospital he was told that she had been taken to the operation theatre as there was a crack in her skull and spinal cord. While Aryan was filling up the hospital registration forms all he could think about was the survival of his wife and child. The operation went on for twelve hours, they were successful in saving Niya but not her child.

On hearing what the doctor had to say Aryan was in distress he knew that nothing could be done about it but he also knew that Niya wouldn’t be able to handle the situation and she would blame herself for everything. Aryan was not happy about what had happened but one of them had to be strong. Niya gained her consciousness after a few hours, when she saw her husband enter the room she started to howl and blame herself just as Aryan had expected her to do so. Niya was scared, guilty and in pain. Nobody knew what destiny had in store for them.

Aryan stayed the night at the hospital. Next morning Niya felt a throbbing pain in her lower back spreading downwards towards her legs. The doctors rushed in to check on her,Aryan was again made to wait in suspense. After checking her the doctors declared that the pain was caused due to the operation performed on her spinal cord. A couple days passed the pain stopped Niya thought soon everything would get back to normal, but little did she know……………

The next morning Aryan left the hospital room to get some breakfast. When he came back he saw that there was no one in the room. He went and asked the nurses for help, they told him that Niya had been rushed into the emergency room. He ran up the stairs with all the energy he had left in him. He barged into the room and saw many doctors examining Niya’s legs while she was lying unconscious. He was dragged out of the room by the nurses. 

While he waited outside in anger he saw a little boy walking towards him. The boy looked like about six years old. He had come to comfort Aryan as he had seen him angry and crying. All the little boy said, was that what god wants will happen and that Aryan should not leave hope. The wise words of the six year old gave Aryan inspiration and power to handle the situation that he was in. After a few hours Niya was taken back to her room. The doctor who was handling the case entered with a serious look on her face. Seeing the doctors expression Aryan’s heart sank as he knew this was not good news. The doctor first sat down sipped her tea and then began talking. She said that Niya’s legs had given way. It took a few minutes for the couple to understand the seriousness of Niya’s medical condition. Niya’s hope of her life going back to normal was shattered.

That night Niya got no sleep at all Aryan had also gone back home, she was all alone. The next morning the same boy who had spoken to Aryan the other day entered her room. Her eyes were puffy and on realising that she had been crying the little boy gave her his colouring book. At that moment the book did not mean anything to as she already had a lot going on. It took her several months to accept what had happened but she knew that sooner or later she had do it and that she would have to live her entire life on a wheelchair. 

It took months for Niya to recover and go back to her house. While leaving the hospital she found the book that had been given to her by the little boy. The whole ride home she just starred at it. One evening she had nothing to do and the book was kept by her bedside. She then began to colour in it. Soon she began to paint on canvases. Her work was extraordinary. She had painted portraits, sceneries and abstract pictures. 

Her work was getting better and better each day, it had become her passion. One day she had her husband’s colleague come over, who happened to see her paintings he was swept off his feet on seeing her astonishing collection. He convinced Niya and her husband to exhibit her work. The response that she got motivated her to pursue her passion and hold exhibitions all over the world. Today she is a world renowned artist who did not let her medical condition stop her from reaching great heights in the field of art.

In life we should not let hurdles or difficulties stop us from achieving our goals, just like Niya challenged herself we all should learn to move on from our past and focus on our present. Life is all about laughter and tears, joy and sorrow, success and failure and birth and death. When god shuts one door he opens many more windows. We all should be inspired by Niya and Aryan and many more unspoken heroes.