You’ve only got one life to live, so you gotta live it good,” urged Aliyah Davida Elena Rotman to her schoolmates at Jackman Avenue Junior Public School in Toronto during morning announcements last fall. Less than six months later, Aliyah died suddenly of a rare vascular condition.
At just 7 years, 9 months and 2 days, her own one life to live was too brief. But Aliyah was wise beyond her years and followed her own advice to live a full, outsized life while she was here.
People were always drawn to Aliyah, and she was drawn to them. Unlike most kids her age, Aliyah had adult friends. At age four, and at the time living in Berlin, she and her dance teacher asked her parents if they could make noodles and ice cream dates after dance class; alone, Aliyah insisted. She could carry a conversation with anecdotes from her own life, curiosity, humour, sincerity and insightful observations.
She smiled brightly, laughed generously and loved sparkly unicorn clothes. At school and on her street when she moved back to Toronto, her imagination would often be the source of elaborate games and stories. One summer day her father came across neighbourhood kids gathered idly on the street – they were waiting, they said, for Aliyah to come back outside so they would have better ideas for games they could play.
Above all, Aliyah was unfailingly kind and giving. She would regularly bring her parents, unprompted, toys she wanted to give away to less fortunate kids, and would make gifts, write stories, or craft elaborate cards for friends and family, just because it would make them happy. The week before she died, she sneaked in before school to decorate the classroom for her teacher’s 40th birthday.
She made one final gift before she died, both kidneys and her heart successfully transplanted, giving another three people the chance to live their one life, and live it good.
In honour of Aliyah’s generous spirit, we are raising funds for SickKids to ensure everyone has access to world class care.