Saman Akhtar, is not only a cancer survivor. She has beaten the odds yet again and is now qualified medical doctor.  The-24-year-old recently graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBChB) from the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Pretoria (UP) and shares how she achieved academic success while battling with cancer.

Akhtar was born in Durban and grew up in Richards Bay, KwaZulu-Natal. She describes her childhood as “a happy and carefree” one. Throughout her childhood, she was fortunate to have the opportunity to travel both locally and internationally. This, she says, which opened her up to seeing the world from different lenses.

However, nothing could have prepared teenage Saman for the health challenges that she would be faced with.

“In 2016, while doing my matric year, I was diagnosed with Metastatic Ewing Sarcoma to the lungs,” she says, explaining that her rollercoaster battle with cancer started in early that year when she developed a lump on her left wrist.

“In July of 2016, we decided to excise the mass. It was sent for histology which resulted in my diagnosis of Ewing Sarcoma,” she says.  Ewing Sarcoma is a type of cancer that occurs in bones or in the soft tissue around the bones.

Akhtar began her first round of chemotherapy while writing her preliminary and final matric exams. She admits this was an immensely difficult period for her. She didn’t just want to pass matric, she was pushing herself so she could achieve her academic goals and qualify for admission in medicine at UP.

Once she got accepted into UP, the hardship intensifies as she transitioned into a new city away from all familiarity and comfort. “I decided that even though I was in what seemed like a very uncontrollable stage of my life, I was still going to try to achieve everything that I had set out to do,” she says.

Studying and shifting her mind towards something she had control over become her escape. “As bizarre as it sounds, studying became my escape from the reality.”

Akhtar says she chose to study medicine at UP because of the University’s unmatched contribution to health sciences. “The University is a reputable institution for producing excellent doctors with the latest and up-to-date training programmes.”

Her older sister, who is also a UP alumna and recently completed a masters in regulatory pharmacology with the University, played a huge part in her decision to #ChooseUP.

Akhtar is a third-generation doctor in her family. She says she was inspired by both her maternal and paternal sides of her family to become a doctor.

“My father is a specialist urologist and both my grandparents were doctors.” She says watching both her grandmother and her father work compassionately, selflessly and putting their patients first while making a huge difference to the South African health system, created a passion for medicine in her.

“Despite having to go through chemotherapy, radiation and multiple surgeries, I did not defer classes,” says Akhtar.

“I remember having just had a session of chemo, feeling very nauseas, and then going to anatomy dissection class, where I had to bear the pungent formaldehyde smell,” she recalls.

Then four years after her diagnosis, in June of 2020, her medical scans came back and revealed no evidence of active cancer.  

“Since then, and by the grace of God, I have been in remission,” says Akhtar.

No one dreams of having cancer but Akhtar says her experience has given her a better opportunity to connect with patients. “I feel like I have the experience of what some of the patients go through, and I can use my experience to motivate and inspire my future patients to not give up.”

“I remember one of my first patients in my Internal Medicine Rotation, a fear filled young man in his early twenties, who was just diagnosed with cancer (Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma). I shared my cancer story with him, which gave him the courage to fight.”

As a young person with so much to look forward to, having life-threatening health issues can be “emotionally, mentally and physically taxing,” Akhtar says. She encourages other young people who may be going through a similar journey to stay motivated and to fight to achieve all their aspirations.

“Being a doctor is such a privilege,” she says, adding that she could not have accomplished what she has without the support from her loved ones.

“I wouldn't be where I am today without the love, support and guidance from my family, caring friends and medical experts.”  

Now that she has completed her undergraduate studies, Akhtar looks forward to exploring anaesthesiology as her preferred area of specialisation. On a personal level, her goals include: “traveling the world, starting a family one day and to continue to live a life that I am happy and proud of.”