Former Patient Hopes to Return to Birmingham Children’s Hospital as a Doctor
Aspiring doctor Raffia Amjad is pursuing her dreams of a career in medicine after receiving life-saving treatment at Birmingham Children's Hospital.
Thanks to the care and support she received throughout her childhood and teenage years, Raffia, who is currently a Biomedical Scientist, is now working towards her goal of becoming a doctor.
She hopes one day to return to the hospital that helped save her life, after she was diagnosed with sepsis as a child.
Raffia, 22, from Birmingham, shared: “Because of Birmingham Children’s Hospital, I am alive. That is a gift I will never take lightly. I had the chance to grow up. I was able to sit my exams, continue my studies and pursue my dream of becoming a doctor.”
Raffia was in the middle of doing her SATS at 11 years old when she started to feel unwell.
She attended Birmingham Children's Hospital's Emergency Department, where she collapsed and required urgent treatment for sepsis.
She shared: “It took me a week to remember where I was. I was in hospital for a long time, being looked after by the amazing team there. I was also able to continue studying through the James Brindley school.”
After months in hospital, Raffia recovered and was able to return home and sit her exams.
“Even during such a difficult period, the staff were making sure that I was not forgotten as a student, a child, or a person with hopes beyond illness.”
Raffia and her family knew the hospital well, having received regular care for primary carnitine deficiency, a rare metabolic disorder, since she was born.
Raffia said: “When I became unwell as a baby, I had extremely concerning symptoms, including an enlarged liver and low glucose levels.
“It was Birmingham Children’s Hospital that gave my family answers. The diagnosis of primary carnitine deficiency changed the course of my life. It meant that I could receive the correct treatment, monitoring, dietary input and specialist follow-up.
“For many years, I was under the care of the metabolic team and the dietetics team. I attended regular hospital appointments, had blood tests and monitoring, and grew up knowing this hospital not just as a place of treatment, but as a place of reassurance, expertise and safety.”
Thanks to support from hospital staff throughout her life, Raffia went on to achieve A and A* grades in her GCSEs and continued successfully through her A levels. She has since become a biomedical scientist and is now working towards her next step in medicine, aspiring to fulfil her dreams of becoming a doctor.
She added: “This hospital has shaped my life in ways that are difficult to fully explain. It has been part of my childhood, my survival, my education, my healing and now my purpose.
“I hope the staff know that the work they do reaches far beyond the moment of diagnosis or discharge. Sometimes, the child they cared for grows up and comes back, not because they have forgotten what happened here, but because they remember it so deeply that they want to give something back.”