Keep Your Head Up: A Mother's Story of Chasing Joy in the Face of Grief - Hardcover

by Tasha Faruqui (Author)

A testament to the depth of familial love and our ability to endure in the face of childhood terminal illness

Keep Your Head Up is the incredible tale of one family's path to perseverance in the face of devastating odds. When author Tasha Faruqui gave birth to her second daughter, Soraya, she knew immediately that something was wrong. Yet as years passed and every medical test for Soraya came back normal or inconclusive, Tasha began to realize that science doesn't always have the answers, and there are some issues in life that simply cannot be fixed. Yet, we can continue to find happy moments and celebrate the beauty of what we have.

This story gives a voice to parents and loved ones of terminally ill children, illuminating the way to comfort, community, and unbreakable hope. This book discusses terminal illness with raw honesty, demonstrating how families can provide transparency to life-limited children around a terminal diagnosis, comfort them when they are afraid of what comes next, and continue to embrace life despite ongoing challenges. With beautiful narration and a heartfelt perspective, Keep Your Head Up testifies to the true depth of familial love and the hard things we can endure with grace and resilience.

This book:

• Provides guidance, hope, and understanding to parents and caregivers of terminally ill children
• Tells a story that will resonate with families facing elusive diagnoses, fickle healthcare systems, and emotional turmoil
• Offers hope that it is possible to find joy in the face of tragedy and give sick children the gift of a fully lived life
• Presents the balanced and relatable perspective of an award-winning pediatrician and parent to a child in hospice

Parents, family, and friends of terminally ill children, as well as healthcare professionals and educators, will appreciate Keep Your Head Up for its candor and its value as a guide to moving through a situation no family should have to face.

Front Jacket

In Keep Your Head Up: A Mother's Story of Chasing Joy in the Face of Grief, experienced pediatrician and mother of a young daughter with complicated medical issues, Dr. Tasha Faruqui, delivers an incredible tale of her family's difficult but rewarding journey in the face of unimaginable obstacles and challenges. The book gives a voice to the parents and loved ones of terminally ill children, showing you how to provide comfort, community, and hope in situations that seem bleak. It discusses terminal illness with sincere and compassionate honesty and deep, firsthand understanding of the ways in which diagnoses impact children and their families.

Dr. Faruqui's beautifully narrated and heartfelt perspective offers powerful lessons about familial love and the hardships we can all learn to endure with grace, resilience, and humanity. She walks you through how to provide children with serious, complicated, and terminal illnesses the gift of a full life, packed with meaning and connection.

Keep Your Head Up provides parents and families of sick children with devastating diagnoses a way to survive the confusion that comes with uncertain and hard-to-understand medical conditions, complicated and bureaucratic healthcare systems, and the extraordinary emotional swings that come hand-in-hand with these situations.

Perfect for the parents, families, and friends of terminally ill children, Keep Your Head Up is also invaluable for healthcare professionals and educators who help patients navigate these diagnoses. It's a compelling discussion from an author who combines deep medical experience and competence with the insight and empathy of a mother who has unexpectedly found herself in this uniquely difficult position.

Back Jacket

Praise for Keep Your Head Up

"Dr. Tasha Faruqui's Keep Your Head Up is an insightful journey through the challenges and triumphs of raising a child with medical needs. As the CEO of Make-A-Wish America, I have witnessed firsthand the transformative power of a wish in bringing hope, strength and joy to children and their families. Dr. Faruqui's heartfelt narrative beautifully captures this perspective, showcasing the resilience that defines the Make-A-Wish experience. This book is an inspiring reminder that even in the face of adversity, joy and hope can be found."
--LESLIE MOTTER, President and CEO of Make-A-Wish America

"Keep Your Head Up is a powerful, heartfelt journey through grief, faith, resilience, and redemption. With raw honesty and hard-won wisdom, Tasha offers more than just a story--she offers hope. This book doesn't shy away from the weight of loss, the depths of despair, or the questions that often go unspoken in the wake of tragedy. But through it all, it radiates courage--the kind that inspires you to face your own pain and keep going. Whether you're walking through the valley of loss yourself, loving someone who is, or simply longing to live with more intentionality and grace, this book will meet you where you are--and lift you higher. It's not just a book you read. It's a book you feel."
--WHITNEY LYN ALLEN GADECKI, certified grief coach, widow, and author of Running in Stilettos and What Must Be Carried

"As a fellow rare-disease mom, I saw so much of my own story reflected in these pages. With unflinching honesty and a rare blend of medical insight and maternal tenderness, Tasha Faruqui offers a poignant and powerful memoir that captures the heartbreak and hope of parenting a medically complex child--her story is a masterclass in surrender, resilience, and the fierce pursuit of joy in the face of profound uncertainty."
--JESSICA FEIN, author of Breath Taking: A Memoir of Family, Dreams, and Broken Genes

Author Biography

DR. TASHA FARUQUI is a pediatrician, public speaker, medical advocate, and author. She's passionate about helping parents of children with complex medical conditions and reduced life expectancy. She was named a top doctor by Cincinnati Magazine in 2022 and 2024. She continues to share her family's journey on Instagram (thefaruqui5).