ONE of Bahrain’s most-treasured chefs Sarah Hijris – who successfully battled against a spinal condition from birth and underwent more than 20 operations – has died suddenly from cancer after being stricken down by an aggressive form of the disease.
Tributes have poured in for the courageous 37-year-old Bahraini-British culinary queen and teacher, who passed away yesterday. Messages of love, mixed with grief and shock have been posted across social media platforms by friends, students and customers.
Sarah is survived by her mother Kim, her father Khalil, and her siblings Nadia, Nabeel and Isa, who expressed their devastation at her untimely passing.
“Today, we lost our wonderful, strong and determined eldest daughter to cancer,” said Mrs Hijris. “She has fought through so many battles but this one was not to be.”
The grief stricken mother told the GDN yesterday that her daughter had suffered from an aggressive cancer that had been diagnosed a mere five weeks ago and had been undergoing emergency treatment at King Hamad University Hospital Bahrain.
“The bladder cancer had spread to multiple organs,” she added.
Sarah was born in the English town of Shrewsbury with a condition known as spina bifida - when a baby’s spine and spinal cord does not develop properly in the womb, causing a gap in the spine. It affects bone, muscle and joint development and often causes problems with walking and vision.
To treat her birth condition, she underwent 24 surgeries over her lifetime but did not view her disability as a weakness.
Her oft-repeated motto stated: ‘I have spina bifida but it doesn’t have me,’ and she even had it tattooed on her forearm.
The late chef’s younger sister, Nadia, said Sarah was raised in Bahrain and studied at St Christopher’s School before travelling to Australia for higher studies.
“Having been born with spina bifida Sarah showed that your disability does not limit you,” said Nadia, 33. “From the moment of her birth, doctors warned that there may be a chance she would not survive. They also discussed the chances of her inability to walk independently.
“Sarah had faced challenges time and time again and she was able to prove all of those statistics wrong!”
Although her parents were told that she would likely suffer from total paralysis, Sarah went on to have a fulfilling life as a baker and then as a professional chef.
Inspired by her grandmother and having learned the art from her mother who opened the popular A Piece of Cake bakery and café in Bahrain in 1993, Sarah started baking at a very young age and quickly realised that her passion and talent was also in the culinary arts. She specialised in French and British cuisine and learned the classical methods of cooking through private training with a professional French chef. In 2015, she started her own catering business named Sarah’s Gourmet Kitchen.
She was one of the celebrity chefs invited to appear at the Bahrain Hospitality & Restaurant Expo at the exhibition centre in Sanabis in 2018.
“It was a lifelong dream,” she told Bahrain TV in an interview last October. “I love what I do, I could not imagine being anything else but a chef.”
Nadia recalled Sarah was also extremely proud to be invited annually to hold talks with trainee doctors and medics to highlight her condition and discuss how medical staff should best treat patients with disabilities.
She added that Sarah travelled to the UK last March for a regular check-up after a two-year break due to Covid-19 travel restrictions and during a routine procedure the cancer was detected.
“We returned to Bahrain as surgery was not an option and she was supposed to start chemotherapy at King Hamad University Hospital but, due to complications, it was no longer an option.”
Meanwhile, a post by the Bahrain Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals dedicated heartfelt condolences to her family and highlighted her devotion to animal welfare.
“Sarah was an animal lover, a very dear friend of the BSPCA and supported the charity in so many different ways.”
Arrangements are being made for the funeral service which is set to be staged shortly in the UK.
zainab@gdn.com.bh
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