Shumaila Imran Farooq diagnosed with cancer

LONDON: Shumaila Imran Farooq, the widow of Muttahida Qaumi Movement's slain founding leader Dr Imran Farooq, has been diagnosed with cancer.

Geo News has learnt from a credible source at the Guy's Hospital that Shumaila Imran Farooq has Stage 2 mouth cancer, which was diagnosed recently. Doctors at the hospital have recommended immediate treatment for fear of the cancer spreading to other parts of her body but she has not been able to avail herself of treatment due to severe financial difficulties and lack of support with respect to care of her sons, Alishaan and Wejdaan.

This is yet another devastating blow to the former MQM Sindh Assembly lawmaker on reserved women seat, who has had to endure the injustice of her husband's cruel political murder, with no signs of justice being any time soon.

The cancer diagnosis comes to Shumaila Farooq on the 9th murder anniversary of Imran Farooq, the former formidable MQM leader, who once ran the powerful machine of the ethnic party with its founder and leader Altaf Hussain.

The source at the Guy’s Hospital, part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, said Shumaila has a large cancer formation on the left jaw and needs urgent surgery to treat the affected area which will necessitate a stay in the hospital for up to two months.

The source said that Shumaila's surgery would be followed by at least eight weeks of radiotherapy at the Neck and Clinic Unit of the hospital. The source added: "She will need at least 6 months for post-operative treatment. The notes on her diagnosis state that her condition is critical and cancer could spread in her body. God forbid, that could be fatal, if that happens."

Shumaila Farooq had a serious accident in December 2016 when she had a fall and a metal utensil ripped apart her jaw and other vital organs. She has still not recovered from those injuries and has been unable to eat solid food for three years – living on just a liquid diet. Shumaila Farooq was also unable to afford reconstructive surgery to replace her jawbone and teeth and to heal her hips and legs in order for her to regain some normality to her life as she has the responsibility of two young children. She was admitted then for treatment in the same hospital for a month, in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

The MQM had denied initially that she fell down and was not being looked after by the party, but some of its leaders from the London office made pictures with her at the hospital bed and posted on social media. Shumaila Farooq has not been able to recover from her fall of three years ago and she is still not able to walk without support.

Guy's Hospital is located near the London Bridge station. Some of the country's top cancer surgeons practise at its clinics. Shumaila Imran Farooq has not been well after her husband's murder nine years ago in Edgware, and her fall in 2016 was linked to depression and trauma that she has continued to face since then. To make matters worse, she has faced serious financial constraints and has had no one in the MQM factions – MQM London, MQM Pakistan, or PSP – to look after her.

Only a few days ago, Geo News revealed in a major investigation that Dr Imran Farooq's widow is living in extreme poverty with her two sons in Edgware in a derelict building, above a mechanic's shop.

Imran Farooq's family living in extreme poverty

Imran Farooq's family has no money and are about to be made homeless

This correspondent had met Shumaila Farooq outside a clinic in Central London where she walked with crutches and help from her sons but declined to answer questions.

It seemed clear at that time that Shumaila Farooq is partially paralysed, but it was not known even to her that she is a cancer patient.

In this new fatefully tragic twist, Shumaila Farooq has been left in a situation where she has nobody to care for her children if she takes the treatment. If she does not take the treatment, there may be nobody left to care for her children.

The real tragedy is that she and her sons are the victims of terrorism who have had to endure grief, poverty, and denial of justice alone and, yet, society has turned a blind eye to their tragedy.