Point of Salvation: Mahmoud Shehata

‘HOT Person of Interest’ is a feature article we hope to publish once a month, on a current or a former UTP student that stands out among us for something he/she has achieved or been trough.

Our first POI was a second year mechanical engineering student from Egypt, Mahmoud Shehata. He spoke to HOT at our general meeting, relating his experience surviving cancer.

His story started with him lying on a bed in Ipoh general hospital. Three doctors, one after the other approached him asking the same questions- smoking and drinking habits, illegal drug taking as well as sexual activities.

“You have leukemia, a form of blood cancer. 97 % of your blood cells are cancerous,” a hematologist broke it down to him two days later. A person with leukemia experiences an abnormal production of white blood cells caused by a defect in immature white blood cells or the bone marrow, the soft tissue inside bones, which produces the blood cells itself. Leukimia can be caused by smoking, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), family history, drug taking and genetic disorder though in Mahmoud’s case, an unknown reason.

Upon this discovery he couldn’t help but to think, “Is this where I meet my end?”.

“Ever since I was a child, I have always believed I was different from everyone else. When I was twelve, I had a dream of going to Japan, starting my own company there and defeating the Japanese at their own game. Everyone thought I was crazy- how could a twelve-year old boy who does not speak Japanese, not to mention even English (at the time), start a company in Japan?”

The V2 meeting room was in silence as Mahmoud carried on, “I then received my first chemotherapy cycle and for ten whole days, my body temperature was between 38ᵒC and 40ᵒC- my immune system was shutting itself down. I can’t forget the moment I started fainting, I looked deep into my mother’s eyes. I told her that I think I am dying. I was asked by the nurse to say my last prayer. Once again it was the same question burning on my mind; is this it? How can this be the end when I have yet to achieve my dreams? When I have yet to change the world? When I have yet to fulfill my purpose? Those questions made me fight through the haziness and open my eyes again”.

In two years, Mahmoud had five chemotherapy cycles followed by a bone marrow transplant. 

Today, he is free from cancer.

Mahmoud hasn’t changed the world, neither did he fulfil his purpose yet. Mahmoud’s story is not about him; his story is about someone whose life was saved by his own sense of purpose in life.

The question remains; do you have a purpose in life? Do you have a cause? A reason that makes you wake up from bed every day and shape your actions in life? It does not matter what others think about it. What matters is your faith in it, from all your heart and that you are passionate about it.

Mahmoud gave his talk on the 16th of January 2013. If you would like to contact Mahmoud feel free to email him on m.shehata91@gmail.com or you can connect with him on twitter @iShe7ata.

If you or someone you know has been through a significant experience in your life, or who has accomplished something special in life and would like to share it with everyone to inspire them, please feel free to volunteer.  Contact us at heartoftronoh@gmail.com and help us write change.

From the brink of death.

By Mostafa Mohamed, EE