Laughing through pain: Siddique's touching journey with his daughter

For someone who created so much laughter on screen, Siddique's personal life wasn’t exactly hunky dory. Even when he wrote such spontaneous humour, he was always weighed down by a personal tragedy. His daughter was a special child and very rarely he has opened up about her in interviews. Recently he was elated to find visible improvement in his daughter’s condition after treatment at a clinic in Chalakudy. San vivo Clinic shared a video soon after Siddique’s demise. “If God has sent her on earth to make her live, then I will do everything possible for that,” says Siddique in the video.

“When my daughter was born, the doctors said she won't live if surgery was not done. Because she was a premature baby and weighed only 600 gms. Lots of people discouraged us from having an operation saying she will cause a lot of problems for us. They felt it was better if she didn’t live. But I was adamant and said she has every right to live. If God has sent her on earth to live, I will provide everything possible to make sure she lives. I leave the rest to God. That’s how I got her.

We tried various hospitals in India. We did the very expensive stem cell therapy in Mumbai. Since birth, my daughter has gone through a lot of pain. And it is painful to watch it. But we will reassure ourselves that we are doing all this to see her walk and have a normal childhood like everyone else.

When we have a child like that at home, our biggest worry will always be regarding who will take care of her/him after our death. That was also our biggest worry. Every night before falling asleep that thought will haunt us. Who will take care of my daughter? The parents live in that agony. But you should remember one thing. God creates certain special children. And they are their favourites and wonder which home they should be sent to. They will also pick the best parents for that job. We are those fortunate parents. If they are destined to live, God will take care of them. Or else there will be thousands,” said Siddique.

Siddique also talks about the changes that occurred in her after the treatment at the clinic. “Earlier she was in depression and was always anxious. After coming here, we can see lots of changes in her. Most importantly she is very happy. We always had a doubt if she wanted to walk. Because she was lazy. After joining the clinic, the energy of the other children has passed on to her and now she wants to walk. That’s a huge positive. She has to feel motivated to do anything. The biggest service the San Vivo clinic doctors did was to give her that positive energy.

We can see a difference in her behaviour.  She had to take sleeping pills to sleep. Now she is sleeping properly without it. She is also talking about walking by herself. Her legs and elbows are also stretching. We are watching the changes in her with so much happiness,” said Siddique. His daughter has cerebral palsy.