Amazing Road to Success

Erfan is here to say goodbye to MAHAK because he is leaving Iran, one of the social workers said. “I am here to join other children in the playroom as a remembrance of the joyful time spent in MAHAK. I am planning to go to India next month to continue my studies in an Indian university; thinking of being faraway from here makes me upset and I already miss MAHAK“, Erfan said.

Erfan Lotfipour, now 17, is a cancer survivor having completed his treatment few months ago.

He talks about all those hard days with hope and full of energy; the days when his family and friends were shocked and frustrated when they heard the sorrowful news of his illness and Erfan began a very challenging stage of life characterized by difficult days that went by surprisingly easily, thanks to his determination and will to overcome this dreaded disease.

At first it was an ordinary flu, but instead of fading away in time, it became increasingly severe, eventually diagnosed by specialists as ‘Hodgkin’s’ disease.

Soon the war against ’Hodgkin’s’ began for Erfan who had plenty of hope and determination. He was introduced to MAHAK pediatric cancer specialty hospital by one of his family friends who herself was a cancer survivor. Erfan claims that the mentioned friend planted the seeds of hope within him and today, he is here celebrating his success with alike children in MAHAK to encourage and empower them in their travails. Having gone through a two-year treatment process in nine months, Erfan is a firm believer in ‘mind-over-matter’ philosophy and would like nothing more than conveying this conviction to other children sharing his predicament.

The people at MAHAK hope that all children with cancer overcome their illness – using the eternal optimist otherwise known as Erfan Lotfipour as their role model.