Husnah becomes a doctor and a mum in same year

Published: 9 August 2024 at 09:11

Husnah Tarab with baby Yara

New graduate gave birth to baby Yara just five weeks before final Medicine exams

A new Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) graduate is celebrating becoming a doctor and a mum in the same year, after giving birth to a baby girl just five weeks before her final Medicine exams.

Husnah Tarab, 29, gave birth to her daughter Yara Selene on January 25 by caesarean section, before sitting her final Medicine exams to become a doctor in March.

The surgery left her in pain and unable to drive to lectures, but despite fearing at one point she may have to defer, Husnah was spurred on by friends and peers at ARU’s School of Medicine and assisted by the support of her partner Yanis and family, culminating in her successful graduation at Chelmsford Cathedral last week.

Husnah and her peers who graduated on Thursday are the second cohort of Medicine students to cross the stage since ARU’s School of Medicine opened its doors in 2018.

But Husnah, who lives in East London, described the period between Yara’s birth and her exams as “chaotic”.

She said:

“It wasn’t just taking the exams, but there are competency requirements and hours in practice to complete as well. My partner, my mum and my mother—in-law helped where they could and I had to lean on them a lot, even just to get the chance to rest and to heal. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without them.

“The C-section hit me like a truck. I wondered how I would get to exams and thought I might have to defer until later in the year. But friends in the School of Medicine knew what it meant and they gave me the belief to give it a go and get to the end."

Husnah also believes that becoming a mother has given her a new perspective on being a doctor which will serve her well as she embarks on her new career.

She added:

“Being a patient has taught me more about what people go through when they have surgery. When people come to hospital, they are maybe scared, in need of reassurance and support, it isn’t just the clinical side of healthcare they need, it is so much more. It’s a perspective I needed to become a good doctor.”

 

Husnah has now started work at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust as a foundation year medic, and intends to focus her career in obstetrics and gynaecology.