Cape Town twin sisters Fatima Sydow and Gadija Sydow-Noordien are hopeful after the last two years threw curve balls with their health.
The celebrity chefs have both experienced rocky waters since Gadija had a stroke in February 2022 and Fatima was diagnosed with soft-tissue cancer in December 2020.
Independent Media Lifestyle caught up with Gadija at her Mitchells Plain home.
The aroma of freshly baked biscuit filled her home as she explained how she dealt with losing part of her mobility due to the stroke.
The mom of four spent six weeks in rehabilitation, effectively learning how to walk again.
Gadija is one half of the “Kaap Kerrie en Koeksisters” cooking TV show along with her twin sister Fatima.
Before her stroke on February 27 last year, she started her own cooking vlog called “Gaja Cooks”, where she entertains thousands of followers with her cooking and baking tips.
“Its been a journey of recovery and rediscovery, its been the most challenging and difficult time of my life, I lost part of my mobility on my left side because of the stroke and my speech and vision was affected.
“I never asked ‘why me’ but instead ‘why not me’; this journey was my lesson because I learnt a lot about my strength and ability to move on through whatever faces me.”
Gadija endured 18 months of rehabilitation and still says she loves hanging the laundry as part of rehab.
“My favourite rehab is hanging the washing and taking it off, I love doing it now.”
The 49-year-old says there was mental and emotional damage after the stroke, but showing vulnerability helped her heal.
“You cant keep everything in, its fine to say you’re not okay, it gets challenging and difficult. The key to a successful recovery is to keep your mental capacity strong.”
Meanwhile, Fatima has been recovering in hospital for the past two weeks.
Gadija says her sister’s health is improving, thanks to the financial support of friends and strangers, who contributed to her BackaBuddy plea for financial aid.
“Hopefully, Fatima will be home soon, radiation is starting soon. This time has been strain on our family, she is in good spirits and that’s how we were raised, that no matter what the situation, we keep positive and push through.
“As a family, we are trying to keep the good energies up, we laugh and make jokes to overcome this.”
Gadija describes the physical and psychological bond they share.
“As twins, we feel each other’s energies, I feel things she feels, its not what we plan for, its like a sixth sense that comes, its the gift of being twins. Without communicating we already know when the other isn’t feeling well, we feel each other.”
The bubbly chef added: “We recorded six seasons before Fatima was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer recently. We had to stop filming, and so it wasn’t that we just left the show or said goodbye because we wanted to, we had no choice.
“The next step for us was to continue doing our cooking vlogs from home for social media and our YouTube channels. We learnt a lot so we can do our own filming, editing, producing, directing, sound, etc. It’s working for us.”
Gadija said she hopes Fatima gets to release another cook book following her recently released, “My Story My Heritage”.
Gadija thanked followers for their unwavering support.