Dr. Mary Fariba Afsari

And I was very aware of that.

And so I knew that there was a difference between the life that I got to live

as, you know, Fariba with my name changed to Mary in order to protect me as a kind of a California kid versus what it was that my cousins were enduring at that time, also young in Iran.

Yeah, at that point, I had had an understanding that I had a grandmother named Mehri and that my Mary had actually been chosen after her.

I wasn't aware of that until I was into my late 20s, early 30s.

And I felt this connection to her.

And the more I sort of tried to learn about her, the less I could really glean as to what had happened to her in her life.

She died when she was only 26 years old.

And then I learned she was pregnant when she had died and had left behind four young children, including my mother, who was only four years old.

And when I asked my family members why she died,

And at the moment of that scene, I was a practicing OB-GYN.

And so I kind of felt like I am an expert in this topic.

I should be able to understand what killed my grandmother.

I know what the risks are in pregnancy.

And yet, why would something kill her at 26 years old after she'd had four normal, healthy pregnancies?

And nobody really had a good answer for me.

And so one night, I did have an aunt who was visiting from Iran.

And she pulled me outside and she shared with me that she had heard that my grandmother had drank a drink during the course of that last pregnancy with the intention to end the pregnancy and that they believed in the end that that is what had killed her.

I really think that my grandmother serves as a moral conscience for our time.

And that when we understand what our ancestors suffered, it teaches us what we can do to prevent that moving forward.