Arda Kara

Autobiography

Hello, my name is Arda. I was born on the 7th November, 2008, in Istanbul, Turkey. My family originates from various different regions within Turkey, and mostly stayed in Turkey for generations before my parents.

Sometime in late 2014, when I was 5 or 6 years old (it's hard to remember now), me and my family moved to Dubai, UAE, where we have lived ever since. That is where I started Primary school.

In June 2020, I was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma (bone cancer), and had to relocate to Turkey for treatment (due to the more advanced and effective medical system there as compared to the UAE). I achieved a remission in April or May (I believe) of 2021, and returned home to Dubai.

In mid- to late-2021, I decided to stop going to school. This decision was fueled by many things. Obviously, after being separated from my life in Dubai (and school) for a year, being flung into Secondary school for the first time is a big weight on a 12-year-old.

For a while after this decision, my educational path was very messy. Me and my parents tried various options of education outside of the standard school system. Some were more effective than others, but none of them were “just right”.

This also combined with the fact that I was facing increased isolation and inability to find friends (and often being bullied when I tried), made my life very difficult and miserable for a while.

In December 2023, however, a milestone event would surprisingly turn my life around once again. The cancer returned, in a metastatic form in my right lung.

Although this would usually be awful news (especially considering the awful rate of long-term survival for this particular type of case), this recurrence of the cancer actually benefited my mental health in many ways. It was the point where I decided that I would turn my life around.

I received a full remission once again, the treatment completing with a full pneumonectomy surgery (lung removal), leaving me with just one lung (which is honestly fine for me), in August 2024. Upon returning to Dubai once again, I made the decision to start school once again and continue to work on both my physical and mental health.

And thus, in September 2024, I was back in school for the first time in 3 years, and this time, I was ready for it. It was a great step for me in beginning to secure my future. It is through this same school that I am currently studying for International A-Levels in Mathematics, Further Mathematics, and Physics.

My plans for the future are broadly set out, though I am conscious that many things can change as time goes on. I plan to move to the UK in late 2027 to begin studying Mathematics at a university there.

In addition to this, I am thinking ahead to the further future. As an investment to it, I am soon to begin to start major efforts to establish a mosque and educational centre named Al-Majd, somewhere in the UK, where I can educate people on my two main passions: advanced Mathematics, and my religion, Islam, continuing to after my university period is over.

The Al-Majd project is currently in the first (extremely early) stage of planning. However, I am looking for important collaborators to help push it forward long-term.

So yeah, that's me. I am very grateful to be here and to be living a comfortable life, and I consider myself ready to anything that might come my way in the future.

If you would like to know more about the Al-Majd project and how you could help, please get in touch with me; I would very much appreciate it.

---Arda.

[email protected]