|
 So
the two young American doctors, Kashif Chaudhry and Naila Shereen,
whose whirlwind courtship spun them between New York City and Cedar
Rapids, Iowa, cancelled their big plans.
Two weeks ago, they persuaded the imam at a mosque in Hawthorne, New
Jersey, to open up for a quick nikkah marriage contract ceremony.
The couple married the following day on Saturday and celebrated with
her family at her parents' house in New Windsor, New York. After the
ceremony, Shereen dropped her new husband at the airport 12 hours
later.
"We said our goodbyes - we were a bit teary and sad," he said. "I
gave her a red rose."
Shereen was back at work by Monday.
As an internal medicine chief resident overseeing teams of
residents, she rotates through different hospitals in New York, the
epicenter of America's coronavirus outbreak. So far the disease has
infected more than one million people and killed over 50,000
worldwide.
Shereen is working long days but says doctors are trying to keep
each others' spirits up by swapping snacks and trading funny videos.
"We all know New York is bad but we know the worst is yet to come,"
she said. "I never thought I'd live through a pandemic."
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Chaudhry, a 37-year-old cardiac electrophysiologist, is seeing patients via
videoconferencing where he works at Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
They've cancelled all elective operations to try to conserve their protective
equipment when the coronavirus tsunami hits. But while his head is in Iowa, his
heart is in New York.
"I worry a lot about her," he said. "But I'm really proud of her."
The two doctors chat several times a day via Facetime. When asked about each
other, Shereen said Chaudhry is "super funny" while he said he loves her "witty,
sarcastic" sense of humour.
Both say their faith not just inspires but requires them to help - they are
Ahmadi, a Muslim sect that believes in a prophet after Mohammed, an idea
rejected by other Muslims.
Chaudhry, whose aid worker father also inspires him, already worked as a
volunteer implanting pacemakers for free in Bolivia. He and Shereen started
dating after she contacted him after volunteering in Guatemala to discuss other
opportunities. Coffee turned into dinner, which they ate in a mall because he
had forgotten his jacket.
"When we met up, we talked and talked. I just knew right away," he said. "We had
to give up our big wedding but it's much more important I got to marry the woman
I love."
(Editing by Diane Craft)
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