Achi news desk-
On Monday, Samana Forsman and her 11-month-old daughter Nika walked the halls of the McGill University Health Center (MUHC), once home to them.
Nika lived there for the first two months of her life while her father, Soran Norouzi, underwent treatment for sarcoma.
“It’s not something you ever imagined your pregnancy and the birth of your first child would look like, but that’s life,” Forsman said.
Noroozi passed away in July, but his memory lives on through the Sooran Noroozi Sarcoma Research Award, which gives $10,000 to a young researcher.
“All the money raised for this award came through her and her effort, through our website to raise this money with her network,” said Marie-Helena Laramie, CEO of the MUHC Foundation.
The first recipient is Dr. Joseph Petrucelli, who has big plans to change the way patients receive care.
“We are doing research with generative AI [artificial intelligence] In order to predict patient trajectories and understand what the future needs of our patients are today,” Petrucelli said.
Two years ago Norouzi was diagnosed with sarcoma, a painful cancer that affects bones and muscles.
His doctor at the time remembers the amazing story of the family.
“We have never had a patient in this hospital who received chemotherapy while his wife was giving birth to a baby,” said Dr. Rami Saleh, a medical oncologist. “And then they live together on the floor of a cancer patient’s floor.”
Nowrozi was a chemical engineer who loved science. The award was given on his birthday, and his wife is sure that Soren will be excited.
“He would really like the way we celebrate now,” Forsman said. “The way we’re taking a step toward advancing science, which he was a big fan of.”
Samana plans to raise money every year to make sure her husband’s legacy lives on and help other families battling sarcoma.
