It is a story of hope, resilience and fight in the name of love.
A young scientist watches his pregnant wife battle aggressive cancer so he can watch their newborn daughter take her first breath on her deathbed.
Now a new award has been launched in Suran Norouzi’s honour.
“Not a day goes by that I don’t think about him and what a great father he would have been if he had the chance,” said Samneh Poursaman, the late Norouzi’s wife.
In the summer of 2023, Noruzi was battling sarcoma, a rare disease cancer,
The engineer and researcher was given a few weeks to live, but Poursaman was several months away from giving birth to her first child. He kept fighting.
“Suran himself was the living definition of love,” Poursaman said.
The hospital staff were amazed by the way he overcame the odds.
,“It was quite remarkable to work hard to survive and push the boundaries of science to see my daughter survive,” said Dr. Rami Saleh, Noruzi’s oncologist. “In this hospital we have never found a patient who was receiving chemotherapy while his wife was giving birth to a child.”
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Norouzi was taken from her room to the delivery center when Nika was born. She cut the umbilical cord and then something happened that had never happened before.
Due to the extreme kindness of the hospital staff, the family was able to stay together in Norozi’s room in the oncology ward for two months.
“It was very remarkable. Despite everything, he always welcomed us with a smile,” Saleh said.
Norozi died when Nika was only three months old. He was 42 years old.
A year later, in collaboration with her doctor and the MUHC Foundation, Poursaman has launched the first annual Suran Norouzi Sarcoma Research Award. This is a $10,000 scholarship awarded to a sarcoma researcher.
“The Suran Norouzi Sarcoma Research Award is a beautiful legacy for his daughter, little Nika, who will ensure that her father lives on through this incredibly important and meaningful initiative,” said Marie-Hélène Laramie, President and CEO of the MUHC Foundation. May the spirit and impact of “live on.”
PourSaman raised $10,000 himself, and has pledged to raise it every year with the foundation.
Dr. Joseph Petrucelli is the first recipient. They hope to use artificial intelligence and a web app to improve sarcoma patient outcomes.
“I feel incredibly blessed and honored for this award, but also to be a part of this fight against this type of cancer. “It takes the whole community.”
For Poursaman, it’s a step on the path to healing, and a way to honor the love of her life.
They hope the research will prevent children like Nika from losing a parent.
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