LUKE Grenfell-Shaw, British cyclist who was diagnosed with metastatic cancer when he was 24, was in Pakistan recently as part of his mission to travel 30,000km on a tandem bicycle. His is surely a story of human resilience and courage.

He was diagnosed with an aggressive type of sarcoma in 2018, and the diagnosis brought best out of him. He decided to prove that one can live one’s life to its fullest potential despite such a critical affliction as cancer. And to prove this, he embarked on a bicycle ride around the world.

In a recent blog post, he expressed the difficulties he had to face on the Karakoram Highway due to language barrier between Pakistani security and his team. However, on Nov 22, he met a little Afghan girl who welcomed him at a private cancer hospital in Lahore.

She did not speak Urdu or English, but she expressed her love and support for Grenfell-Shaw, using hand gestures. She was full of life despite a cancer diagnosis, and she was able to convey it to him.

The most meaningful communications we have sometimes occur outside the constraints of spoken language. And that is what unites us all as human beings.

Mariam Khan
Lahore

Published in Dawn, December 19th, 2021