A heartbroken mother, who reportedly endured the loss of three children to terminal illnesses, has shared the agonizing decision she made to inform her 10-year-old son that he was recovering, despite knowing he had only a few days to live. Gheuwan Arja, a 41-year-old woman from Greenacre, a suburb of Sydney, couldn’t hold back her tears as she witnessed her son, Omar, ring the hospital bell in joy, signaling the completion of his cancer treatment.
The resilient mother of five opened up about telling her son a “white lie” to shield him from the pain of knowing he had mere weeks to live after enduring six months of chemotherapy and 18 surgeries for Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. This aggressive form of cancer attacks the lymph nodes, which are crucial components of our immune system.
Mamá le miente a su hijo y le dice que supero el cáncer para que este pudiera morir en paz.
— Rosalía Mag (@MagRosalia) May 7, 2023
Video. Tiktok @ gewaarja pic.twitter.com/u4NiXv123o
“One of the worst days”
Taking to TikTok, Arja expressed her anguish, referring to it as “one of the worst days” of her life, as she recounted the act of deception. A video captured the moment young Omar, seated in a wheelchair, rang the hospital bell while medical staff applauded, with his mother standing behind him, consumed by emotions.
Arja captioned the video, questioning, “How do you tell your child that he is going home to spend his last days with his family?” The footage showed her wiping away tears while her son smiled from his wheelchair. Tragically, Omar lost his battle with the disease in January 2022. Arja shared that she never revealed to her son that he was fighting cancer, nor that he had previously battled a brain tumor. Instead, she told him he had an ear infection.
According to the Daily Mail, Arja’s decision was influenced by the traumatic experience of losing two other children to terminal illnesses. As a devoted Muslim, the grieving mother explained that her first child, a daughter named Aisha, was diagnosed with a rare genetic condition called Neiman Pick Type C, which causes the accumulation of cholesterol and other fats in the liver, spleen, or lungs, eventually affecting the brain. Aisha passed away at the age of four in 2009.
“It was devastating, and my world fell apart,” Arja shared in a Launch Good fundraiser, adding, “But I believed that Allah had a plan, and I had to accept it. Then, in 2019, my third-born son, Mohamed, was diagnosed with a brain tumor that we were unaware of.
He displayed symptoms similar to a stroke, and we rushed him to the hospital. However, it was too late. Mohamed passed away after just two weeks. It was a heart-wrenching experience, and I felt like I had lost everything.”