Transcriber: Haru Yamaguchi Reviewer: Abdullah Sherif
My story is different from most
because I had to undergo a bone marrow transplant
when I was just six months old.
And now, I have pulmonary fibrosis,
which is a serious lung disease,
and my lung capacity is only 20%.
My name is Aisha Chaudhary, and I'm 17 years old.
And today, I'd like to talk about what really matters most to me in life.
Now, life can be tough
when every single breath you take is a struggle
and the slightest infection
can cause a serious, life-threatening exacerbation.
And the last one for me was in November last year,
when I went from being able to walk around freely and go to school
to suddenly being bedridden,
unable to turn over in bed without getting out of breath.
And I must confess that I did wonder if I was going to die.
And I would have sleepless nights,
just thinking, tossing, and turning
with this idea that soon I may be gone.
And if that's going to happen, then what's the point of anything?
But then, it suddenly struck me that I'm not really alone in all of this.
Is it not true that not just me but all of us are going to die one day?
Yes, all of us are going to die.
I'd like you all to just think about that for a moment.
In the next hundred years,
all of us sitting in this room today
will be gone,
just at different times -
some sooner than the others.
So then, if death is the ultimate truth,
what should really matter most in life?
I feel the only thing that truly matters to me is being happy,
and happiness is a choice one makes.
It's simply an attitude.
I can either choose to be happy
and try to smile through all of my difficult times,
or I can choose to be miserable and get overwhelmed by it all.
Now it's not that by being miserable I'm going to get any better.
So I may as well choose to try and be happy.
And if I have to have pulmonary fibrosis,
I choose to have a happy pulmonary fibrosis.
(Applause)
Now, I'd like to share with you a few difficult moments in the recent past
where I've chosen to be happy.
This year, I was quite unwell,
and I had to undergo several medical tests,
and one such test was a sleep study
done to check if my oxygen levels were okay when I sleep.
And this picture was taken just before the study.
And you can see that I'm almost trapped in a bunch of wires,
some stuck to my face and some to my body,
to monitor my heart, my brain and my breathing.
Despite all of this, I'm still smiling
because I refuse to let this illness get the better of me.
I just won't let it.
And I chose to find humor in observing the man who was doing my sleep study.
I couldn't help but laugh
at the way he would just put up his own feet on my bed
and go off to sleep himself, snoring away.
And this, obviously, made it difficult for me to sleep
and maybe that's why my results were so bad.
(Laughter)
"How ridiculous," I thought to myself.
Later that month, my family and I had to go to England
for a full medical check-up,
and the days were filled with long, boring medical appointments,
talking about lung transplant
and what seemed like endless amounts of tests.
This is a picture of my brother and I
just after I'd spent one long day at the hospital.
But guess where we were headed in this photo.
To see a Broadway show in London.
And it was fabulous.
I was able to put the trauma of the day at the hospital behind me,
and I still managed to find the will and the excitement
in going out for a play
and spending quality time with my brother.
I believe that it's important to create many happy memories
so that we can try to wipe out the sad ones.
After having quite an unpleasant summer with all of these medical issues,
we decided to take a family holiday to the Maldives,
and there was so much to do in the Maldives,
but of course my health didn't permit me
to do a lot of the things that I wanted to.
And one of the main activities was snorkeling.
And I desperately wanted to try it,
but how could a person who has difficulty breathing go snorkeling?
Well, in this picture, you can see me in my snorkeling gear
right after I had popped my head out of the water
after seeing the most beautiful, vibrant colored fish.
Now, I'm not going to lie.
I did only dip my head in for a second, but I did what I wanted to do.
And that moment for me was worth everything,
and I felt extreme happiness
and was even surprised at myself
for doing something that everyone wasn't sure was really possible.
So happiness is clearly a choice one can make.
No matter what, no matter where, you can find it if you look for it.
In fact, Tom Wilson once said,
"A smile is happiness you can find right under your nose."
I feel that happiness is also doing what you truly love,
and for me, my love is for art
simply because it allows me to express myself
in such a beautiful and unique way.
As I dip my brush in the vibrant colors of paint
and can almost feel the paint being smeared on to the fabric of the canvas,
I tend to forget all of my worries
and the difficult situation that I'm really in.
And art makes me happy
because it almost becomes a whole other world
where I can escape, at least for a little while.
And these days, my most favorite subject to paint is dogs.
And now I'd like to introduce you to my own two dogs.
Coby the labrador and Rolo the black pug.
You can see who the dominant one is in the relationship.
I find it so interesting that even though they can't speak a word,
dogs can become the closest thing to your heart,
your very best friend, and your companion.
I love to observe them and try to figure them out.
And I can't help but get inspired.
Dogs are so similar to humans,
yet they carry qualities that we humans struggle to achieve at times.
Dogs can find happiness in the smallest of things.
Dogs are delighted with a walk,
ecstatic with a small treat
and in heaven when you tickle their belly.
Dogs truly mean the world to me.
And now I'd like to share with you a few paintings that I've done recently,
which were inspired by these two guys.
The first one is of Coby,
and it's capturing a snapshot of my everyday life.
Just lying on my bed, watching movies, just as I love to do.
The next one
is inspired by my gorgeous pug, Rolo,
and the legendary rock band Guns N' Roses.
Now, all of this doesn't mean that life is always one big song and dance.
It really isn't.
Of course, there are days when I feel extremely down,
where I feel like simply curling up into a ball and just giving up.
But the realization that things could always be much, much worse
always pushes me to get back up on my feet and put a smile on my face.
I could have easily been born
into a family that wasn't as loving and caring as my own,
so I thank God for the family that I have.
And I know for a fact that there are children out there
who are much less fortunate than I am.
And although I have this disease,
I'm still glad that I can walk around
and do what I love to do.
So happiness is an attitude.
Happiness is doing what you truly love,
and I feel that happiness can only come from acceptance.
I accept who I am, and I accept where I'm at,
and I accept the challenges that I'm battling with today.
And I'm even more determined
to make the most of this wonderful gift of life
that God has given me.
Hans Anderson once said,
"Enjoy life.
There's plenty of time to be dead."
So I hope that all of you enjoy your lives
with as much happiness as you can possibly find.
Thank you for listening.
(Applause)