Fatima Afaar - winner of the inaugural Faculty of Medicine and Health Research Art Express Awards.
Fatima Afaar, winner of the Written category, for her artwork titled “Uncertainties”
Fatima Afaar, a PhD student with Nicolas Dzamko and Glenda Halliday, is investigating blood immune biomarkers in prodromal Parkinson's Disease patients. She has recently entered the FMH Research Art Express Awards with her poem, "Uncertainties". We are delighted to announce her winning the written category and would like to share her poem with you.
“Uncertainties"
So many blood tests from all those years
All clear they tell me and there’s nothing to fear
Now the symptoms overtake me, more demanding they appear
My being is becoming imprisoned by what is still unclear
Dwelled by the shuffling of my feet, that I can so well hear
Is an individual once articulate, driven by their career
With rigidity and tremor present and a facial stare near
Overcoming new obstacles brings back the feeling of a cheer
Progressive degeneration deep within my brain, presented in the form of pathologies
The odd encounters from a decade or so ago, were early signs of a-synucleinopathies
Immeasurable, the degeneration of the cells, but detected when majority fades
These are the common experiences a Parkinson’s patient often accompanies
Perhaps the keys to this prison is in development by those dedicated by pioneers
To end the dilemma of delayed, misdiagnosed and such worries
Though it cannot be done without those life-giving blood volunteers
The aim is to chart the unexplored territory to eliminate all the uncertainties
In the future lies hope for the breakthrough of new discoveries
In optimism for blood tests that provide early and accurate diagnoses
- Fatima Afaar -