Meet the Pakistani-American chef who is bravely looking death in the eye

Pakistani-American chef Fatima Ali is making headlines for courageously looking death in the eye and aspiring to ‘live her best life’ after receiving a terminal cancer diagnosis.

The former Top Chef contestant of season 15, in a powerful and poignant essay penned down for Bon Appétit revealed harrowing details about getting diagnosed with terminal cancer and being told she has one year left to live.

“A cloud of death is following me. It’s followed me all the way to the first class lounge at LAX. I have never flown anything but basic economy on a domestic flight, but my illness has forced me to upgrade my life,” wrote the 28-year-old.

Fatima’s moving words go on to shed light on the appalling state of consciousness that death is lingering by: “It’s funny, isn’t it? When we think we have all the time in the world to live, we forget to indulge in the experiences of living. When that choice is yanked away from us, that’s when we scramble to feel.”

“They think I’m brave, but really, I’m not. I’m scared. I suspect I won’t last very long. There’s a faint feeling deep inside my gut like a rumble of passing air, ever expanding and filling slowly until, one day, I’ll pop,” she goes on.

Fatima concludes the heart wrenching essay stating: “I was always deathly afraid of being average in any way, and now I desperately wish to have a simple, uneventful life.”

Fatima was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a type of bone and soft tissue cancer in 2017 with doctor’s pronouncing her free of cancer in February 2018. However, the chef revealed earlier this month that her cancer had returned with her days being numbered.