Fatima Baig was a team member at Muslim Sources who passed away suddenly on November 7, 2021 while she was working on this project. Her story is inspiring and she had a direct impact on this work, so I wanted to feature her for our new “Inspiring Muslims” series.
Inspiring Muslims is a new series that will be run by Muslim Sources to bring out stories that will inspire and uplift our community.
Thanks to years of not seeing ourselves represented in the profiles, features and stories of successful people in the mainstream narrative, we as the Muslim community find it harder to dream big and aim high. Showcasing these success stories and inspiring journeys is pivotal to Muslim representation and to the success of our own community members.
We want to create a space to tell the stories of inspiring changemakers and trailblazers who thrive while embracing their faith and identity. These are our stories, by us and for us. Read more about the series here. If you wish to collaborate with us on this series please reach out to us at info@muslimsources.org
In May 2013, even as she fought the odds that were stacked against her, then 20-year-old Fatima Baig appeared confidently with her bright smile at a caregiver’s hi-tea in Mississauga encouraging attendees to be a hero in their lives by signing up for organ donation.
“A donor can make all the difference in the world to somebody,” she said. “Not only can you help save lives, but you will impact a person’s life in ways that you can’t imagine. God performs miracles through heroes. By being an organ donor you become the miracle (hero). Your donation can save up to eight lives, which means you can be a hero eight times. You can give these people the opportunity to do things that they would never have been able to do otherwise and may be make a difference in the world themselves. I would like to appeal to you to become a hero in your life by standing up for organ donation and in your passing by having your organs live on others who get a chance to live and do good.”
And that “good” and “making a difference in the world” is what she went on to do after her miraculous recovery in September 2014. After a long wait of three years and eight months of being listed for her second liver transplant and fighting through the final stages of liver failure, Fatima received her gift of life – a perfect match from someone who had recently passed away, had type B blood and was smaller in size just like her.
Fatima had received her first liver in 2004 at the age of 11 from her mother as a living donor after living with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), a rare autoimmune disease that causes inflammation of the bile ducts and eventual liver failure, since she was two-years-old. In 2010, however, she had to be listed again to receive her second liver after a complication during a biopsy blocked the blood supply to her new liver.
“It was a complication that the doctor said had occurred for the first time in his career,” says Afia Baig, Fatima’s mother while talking to me about her daughter’s tumultuous journey through health challenges and medical complications. “When she was young, I would be (mentally) prepared many times for losing her.”
But in November 2021, when Fatima headed to the hospital to get checked for some digestive issues, no one in her family expected anything was seriously wrong. Fatima also suffered from Crohn’s disease so getting checked for mild gastrointestinal bleeding wasn’t something that raised alarm bells. Her mother was travelling when Fatima went to the hospital where she consented to a routine colonoscopy. Her sister visited her at the hospital before the colonoscopy where she was sitting on her bed tapping away on her laptop, sending emails for her outreach work at Muslim Sources. Sunday afternoon on November 7 2021, Fatima passed away suddenly at 28 years of age after complications that developed from her colonoscopy.
Working through the shock and grief of this unexpected loss, her mother Afia accepts this as the time Allah had written to call her daughter back to Him. She is hopeful Fatima is in a better place, free from the troubles she faced in this world.
“Everyone has their challenges (in life),” says Afia. “But nothing like Fatima. Alhamdulillah, she never complained.”
From the note to herself that her mom found in her grade 3 journal with the misspelled “Be gratful” and her frequent Facebook posts thanking Allah for the opportunities and experiences she was having after her miraculous recovery to the gratitude she showed to her donor family when she met them back in 2015 after her successful second liver transplant, Fatima’s life is generously sprinkled with reminders of how gratitude and resilience were defining features of her personality.
“Faith and hope are what got me through everything at that time,” Fatima said, talking about her transplant in an interview with the Organ Advocacy Initiative in 2018.
“Blessed that part of my life is behind me and thankful for all the little things I am able to do today. I still truly believe in miracles and that won’t ever change,” she wrote in a Facebook post on her page in August 2016.
“For so many things, she was grateful to Allah,” says Afia. “That’s what I wanted her to be.”
“When she was very young, I would tell her that kids who have more pain get more toys in Jannah. She took things seriously. She would remember stuff like that.”
As a child, Fatima was always happy, eager and brave.
“One of her teachers wrote in her notebook: ‘You are a ray of sunshine on my difficult days.’ They said she showed up with a bright smile and never showed that she was sick,” shares Afia.
The nurses at Sick Kids Hospital and later Toronto General where she used to go for her treatments would always love chatting with her and wanted to see her because of her bright and happy personality. Afia says she received letters of condolences from many of Fatima’s nurses and doctors from a long time ago. They still remembered her.
“Fatima had something that made everyone gravitate towards her,” reminisces Afia fondly.
After her passing, friends and teachers and fellow families of liver patients all came out with messages, sharing their condolences and experiences with Fatima.
“I saw someone who showed up to class no matter what,” wrote Clement Goh, one of her classmates at Humber College Bachelors of Journalism program, in a tribute he wrote for her on Twitter. “Her head was up through the longest lectures. She somehow was the first person in, through the worst blizzards. And she never thought about skipping at all… I was so happy to see you graduate, knowing that we counted on each other. Then reminding each other to stop stressing, count my blessings and practice self care. The last five years of my life mattered the most. You were there for all of my crazy recounts.”
“She had so much empathy,” says Afia, mentioning how she used to check in with different liver patients she had connected with online, her own donor family as well as how she contributed to fundraisers and campaigns run by families of those who suffered from different liver diseases. “I’m surprised at the close connection she had with these families.”
“In this last phase of her life she was able to contribute a lot of good to society,” says Afia reflecting on all the connections she made, the indirect Dawah (Islamic education) she did and the causes she contributed to.
During the last couple of years, Fatima authored her own life memoir “Fatima’s Journey: A search for a liver”, completed her Bachelors of Journalism, interned at Global News, volunteered with SMILE, a charity that works for children with disabilities and worked with Muslim Sources to increase Muslim representation in the mainstream media. Throughout these years she also became a vocal advocate of organ donation, raising awareness in the Muslim and South Asian communities, speaking at events and with politicians and scholars to help fight misconceptions about organ donation in the Muslim community.
Through her efforts and her story she was able to get 1025 people to register for organ donation through her unique link on beadonor.ca.
“Her tireless work of raising awareness about the importance of organ donation in the Canadian Muslim community has educated so many, including myself over 8 years ago,” wrote Taha Ghayyur, prominent community leader, executive director of Justice for All and a host at Muslim Network TV, in a Facebook post after her passing. “Fatima Baig and her legacy teach us all: You may be faced with adversity, but you can choose to respond with a positive attitude; you may have a disability, but you can choose to not let it define you and confine you; you may be tested with pain and health challenges, but you can choose to share your story to ease others’ pain; you may have a life-threatening disease, but you can choose to bring life to others through education, organizing, and advocacy; you may live a short life, but you can choose to leave a legacy whose impact outlives you.”
After her passing, Fatima’s teachers and classmates got together to establish the Fatima Baig memorial scholarship at Humber College in her name to support a journalism student from an equity-deserving group. The scholarship is still in the works.
People often talk about how Allah places special people in special places to bring out the most benefit through them. Fatima’s story seems to be a demonstration of just that.
She was able to make an impact and spread awareness, education, happiness and hope in the many positions she was placed in throughout her life. Two examples are particularly fitting here:
Cindy Barkley, the mother of Fatima’s second donor, relates how Fatima was regularly in touch with her over text and social media. She mentions how whenever she would be having a bad day, she would hear a ping on her phone and see a message from Fatima, checking in on her.
Wondrously, a ping is just how I was introduced to Fatima the first time. When I was looking for team members to work with me on Muslim Sources, I had just received an email from an applicant I was considering, saying she had received another offer and would be taking that up. Disappointed, I whispered a dua (prayer) to Allah to send me the perfect team member who could help with this project. Right at that moment I heard a ping on my phone. It was Fatima’s application.