The Telepathy Tapes - S2E35: Soraya's Story Part One

Episode Date: June 24, 2026

When Soraya was born, her parents knew something wasn’t right. What followed was years of medical uncertainty, countless specialists, and a diagnosis that never came. But alongside Soraya's... physical challenges emerged something equally extraordinary: vivid experiences with the non-physical world, messages from loved ones who had passed on, and moments her family still cannot explain.In Part One of this special two-part conversation, Ky sits down with Soraya and her parents, Tasha and Safi, to explore their remarkable journey through disability, faith, and the possibility that consciousness extends far beyond what we can see.Part Two premieres next Wednesday.________________Join The Telepathy Tapes Backstage Pass to get ad-free episodes, never-before-heard interviews, behind-the-scenes documentary footage, and access to our private Discord community. This is your invitation to come closer. To help shape what’s next. To be more than a listener… to be a co-creator of this paradigm shift. So if you’ve felt moved, if you’ve felt seen, if you’ve felt the call—subscribe today and join us: https://thetelepathytapes.com/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 Hi everyone, I'm Kai Dickens, and welcome to the Talk Tracks, brought to you weekly by TTT Media. In this series, we explore the threads that weave together our understanding of reality, science, spirituality, consciousness, and even unexplained phenomena, because every era has ideas once dismissed as impossible until someone was willing to investigate them seriously. And on this show, we do just that. If you want to see our incredible guests in person, we have a video version of this episode. episode on the telepathy tapes YouTube page. Today we have Tasha and Safi and their daughter Soraya. Soraya is a proud disability advocate. And for most of her life, she's been struggling through an undiagnosed condition. It's been very difficult for their family. And today we're going to talk about their journey. And Soraya's incredible experiences with the other side in the non-physical
Starting point is 00:00:55 world that has really changed what her family believes is possible. So right now on the couch, we have Tasha and Saraya and later we'll bring in Safi, Soraya's dad. This is your moment to say whatever you want to the world. Oh, no. So why don't we first start by just introducing both of you. For you, like what grade are you're in or how old you are, where you live, where you're from, who's in your family, just a quick intro. Okay. My name is Saraya and I am 13 years old and I'm in what grade? You're in eighth grade. Eighth grade. Sorry, forget what grade I meant. That's okay.
Starting point is 00:01:33 That's okay. And I'm Tasha. I'm Soraya's mom. I'm a mom to three girls. So Saraya's a middle sister. She's got an older sister who's 16, a younger sister who's 11. I am also a pediatrician and book author. And your husband's a doctor as well, correct?
Starting point is 00:01:51 Yes. He is an orthopedic cancer surgeon. Yes. Wow. Yeah. And when you walked in today, let me restate that. When you rolled in today, you had a very important. You had a very cool sign on the back of your wheelchair.
Starting point is 00:02:02 Can you tell me what your sign said and why you put it there? Okay, so since I have, like, social anxiety and people stare or they say, look, that's a wheelchair. My signs, like, if you have any questions about, like, my disability or my wheelchair asked me. And, like, I've been asked those questions. And so I was, like, like, I just did not let to go out of the car. because of social anxiety and staring and kind of stuff that made me kind of think that. And I was like literally telling my mom, I was like, please write it down. I can't leave this card because I just can't do it.
Starting point is 00:02:46 I just can't. I have social anxiety too. I think a lot of us do, right? It's hard being in a new place or new people. Definitely. Because like I'm quiet sometimes and then I talk a lot. It just kind of depends. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:02:57 Awesome. So let's talk a little bit. about your history. Like maybe Tasha tell us about when Soraya was born. Yes. And maybe we can talk a little bit about like your journey. Like growing up what you wanted to be, you know, what you wanted to do, like what your dreams were. And then how, how and when the diagnosis came into play and how that affected you and your family. Yes. And I can tell some of the history. And just for those that are listening, sometimes it takes a lot for Soraya to talk. And as. Yeah, we're going to go back and forth.
Starting point is 00:03:27 Yes. Yeah. And it is never to cut Soraya off, but her mouth sometimes gets tired just from talking. And so when she was born, we actually were not aware that she was going to have any medical issues or any additional needs. But when she was born, she was born smaller than we expected. And so that was a surprise, mostly because I'm a pediatrician. And so I felt pretty hypervigilant about all of the things that I was putting into my
Starting point is 00:03:55 body, everything. And so when she was born smaller than her sister, it raised a little bit of a concern for me. It was very much quickly reassured that it was, you know, just in my head, just overthinking things. And I also felt like when I breastfed that she got tired really easily. And again, it was kind of quickly reassured. You just graduated. You're overthinking this. She's fine. Fast forward to the two-month appointment of her well-child visit. I could not get her to take a bottle and I had to go back to work full time. And I brought this up to the pediatrician. And at that time, she's like, you're just so good at breastfeeding. She's not going to starve herself when you have to take her to daycare. So fast forward, four-month appointment now.
Starting point is 00:04:40 I've been back at work for a month. And my 10-hour work days, she's being forced-fed one-ounce by the daycare at workers. And I'm nursing her through the night. We get to the appointment. And she is what we call failure to thrive. She is not gaining weight. And I am feeling like many mothers, like I'm not doing enough and this is my fault. And so I'm told. And what month checkup was this? Four months. Four months. Go ahead and feed her solid food. And as a pediatrician, you know, we say you can give food at four months, but I felt like she wasn't like strong enough and wasn't ready. But at that point, I just was like, do what you're told. I surrendered. I'm like, fine. I will do it. And so we gave her solid food. I don't know what about it made me want to record it. It's almost like I knew it wasn't
Starting point is 00:05:24 going to go well. And I recorded it and she was sweating and she started making this noise like and that noise is actually called strider. And at that point, it was my like stopping point where I recorded it. I sent it to the pediatrician and I said, I want a swallow study ordered. Granted, I had no idea what I was looking for. But I just like knew that like there was something. I was like, I know there's something going on. And at five months, when she did the swallow study, it was shown that she was aspirating, which just means that it's going down into her lungs versus her stomach. That in itself led to a lot of red flags, because now we have a child that's not gaining weight that is sweating with feeds, feeding difficulties, and aspirating.
Starting point is 00:06:10 And it sets off a whole bunch of what diagnosis is this. So it went from nobody being concerned to we actually think she has some rare condition that could actually shorten her life. And the first thing they thought it was was something called spinal muscular atrophy, which at that time there was not a cure for. And so they were actually preparing us that she would pass away in the first year of life. Oh, my gosh. We were stationed out in Virginia at that time. My husband's former military and he had just gotten his orders to serve in Afghanistan. And so we were meeting with genetic counselors meeting with everybody like, okay, are you going to try to have another child if Soraya passes away? And all these questions, like, we went from nothing to everything. And we got in
Starting point is 00:06:56 for a lot of testing. The SMA testing was negative. Then they looked for other diseases like adrenal leukadistrophy, RET syndrome, Zellweggers disease, disorders of neurotransmitters, all of these things that I had briefly learned about for my board exams that I knew were all bad. And they were all negative, which was great. However, as two physicians trying to navigate life, we wanted to really try to fix this. And it became very evident after a three-year journey of looking for every type of testing that was coming back inconclusive that we were likely not going to have an answer. But even more so than not having a diagnosis, realizing that this wasn't going away, her treatment really was therapies, speech, OT, physical therapy.
Starting point is 00:07:46 We had nine sub-specialists at that time because we knew every system of her body was impacted. But she was making enough progress where we had no signs that her life was going to be limited, but we also had no signs that this was going away. How was she eating at that time, not to cut you off? No, she ended up getting a G-tube at seven months of age, and she still has one today. So she – this is a part of the time. of her that we absolutely love the G-tube and the sense of it's kept her alive. Like literally everyone asks me like, can you eat food?
Starting point is 00:08:19 Yes, I can eat food. Yeah, I think a lot of times it's almost like the wheelchair where people see you in a wheelchair and they assume that you cannot walk if you have a wheelchair and they see you with the G-tube that you must not be able to eat at all where there's a nice mix. So up until age three, we had gone on this Odyssey and then we actually got to a place of acceptance where, all right, she has something, but she's doing well. It's time to create some new dreams. And we ended up moving to Cincinnati from where we were stationed in Virginia because they have one of the best children's hospitals. And it's actually where I trained for my residency.
Starting point is 00:08:55 And so it was that nice comfort of being back in the Midwest. Midwest is best. Yes. And we knew that they were used to seeing the zebras. And what I mean by that is the rare. We wanted to be surrounded by people that were interested in cutting edge science, research, therapies. And there we landed. And we planned on this life where Soraya may live with us forever. Or she may not. Or she may work at the mall. We knew that she would do something in customer service.
Starting point is 00:09:27 You wanted to do lots of things, I feel. Yeah. And my doctor did say, like, I might be living for a long time. Yeah. We don't know. But stays that way for the rest of my. life, but you never know if the unexpected is going to come in. So, Soraya, what do you want to be when you grow up?
Starting point is 00:09:45 Okay. I think it was a, like, I was kind of more of a figuring out what I want, what, what do I, what's my life style? And I was like, well, let's see. This is like a lot of jobs I was thinking. I was like, maybe I should have three jobs, maybe. That's pretty typical in today's society. I was like, you know what?
Starting point is 00:10:12 Let's just do something. Because I just, I like to be that inabitious kind of person. And I was like, you know what? I'll be a hairstylist and I will be a singer. And then I was like kind of figuring out everything, I think. But other ones is makeup artists. Yeah, I think those were the three ones I wanted to do. And like, I always talk about me.
Starting point is 00:10:38 dream lifestyle. Like earlier, we were talking about that in the car. Yeah. About like, what cars do I want or just something like that? Yeah, we learned that she wants a motorcycle. Or Jeep. And how are you doing now? I think it's definitely a overwhelm and definitely challenging in my physical life because I was not expecting what's going to what was happening in my health kind of like lifestyle and I did I I don't know what's going to look like but hopefully it's good how do you feel in your body to during the day do you feel discomfort okay so and you can be honest yeah because it's like also this year too um I think Sometimes my muscle is physically tight. Sometimes I can feel it.
Starting point is 00:11:35 Sometimes I don't. But usually I'm tired, wiped, but definitely talking a lot and on my screen a lot. Like she used to be out and about. She used to be walking and moving a lot. Yeah, I used to go outside and do kids stuff. Sometimes when a body starts to feel physically restrained or limited, other things open up for us that are more in the spiritual realm or mental realm. Has any of that happened for you?
Starting point is 00:12:07 I do have spirituality for pretty age. And I think I told my parents like, hey, I see spirits or anything like that. I've experienced it still now more often. And it's common in our personal family. But, like, sometimes we'll see, like, lights or, like, other things that are so-called, like, miracles. And Tasha, when was the first time you heard Soraya's to start talking about this type of thing? And what was the first few? Because I was not ready to tell them quite yet.
Starting point is 00:12:50 But when I was ready, I was like, hey, I have spirituality. and I haven't told you guys that. What do you mean by I have spirituality? So I call it spirituality because like... I think it's hard for you to name what it is and I think that people call it different things. Yeah, people can call it like energies. People can just like...
Starting point is 00:13:16 I think every people who have spirituality experience it way differently. Me is more... I'm more in that unique kind of opponent. and like I can like I don't see what they're wearing but I can hear them I can hear footsteps or air moving back and forth and that happens a lot with me and it's part of my life that I personally was not expecting and And I think a lot of, like, I see, like, my family numbers, or I would see, like, my dad's friends or my dad's, my mom's uncle that used to party a lot. And my mom's, like... That's a different story.
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Starting point is 00:17:54 healthiest skin now and as you age. For a limited time, try OneSkin with 15% off using code tapes at OneSkin.co slash tapes. That's 15% off OneSkin.com with code tapes. After you purchase, they'll ask where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them we sent you. When did you start seeing, was it just spirits or were the like angels and energy and orbs? Like what were the, what's the palette of what you would see? I think I would see a person. Like, I definitely could give an example. Like, I was telling my mom this name and we searched it. And it was a real person that was giving heart to another woman.
Starting point is 00:18:41 But on there, they didn't really say how she died. But I think she had a heart condition. And so that was like really unexpected. I think... Like she was able to give us a name, a first name and a last name. Yes. of somebody that she had connected with. And then I looked up the name and there was an article of this teen female who she had passed away and her family had donated her heart to another woman.
Starting point is 00:19:12 And so that really impacted us as parents. I was not expecting that. Okay. Okay. And that was your new friend for a while. Yeah. And I still stay at in my house or anywhere or like anyone. who had a person pass away,
Starting point is 00:19:31 I would automatically could tell what they're saying or I would get a number or... When she says automatically, she can do it all the time. Like, I can ask her about anybody and she can take a second to try to connect. Yeah, and there has been times
Starting point is 00:19:48 where she's like, no, that person won't. So it's not like, it's not just what Soraya wants to do. And I'm starting to learn more as she shares in the way that Saraya shares, but she, from it sounds like it, is just open. So like when she's in her house, she says, oh, there's so many that are here. And I always say, if you're overwhelmed, I hear. And I'm trying to learn so I can, like, guide her that you can, like, close that off if it's overstimilates. She's like, nope, I don't mind it. And then, yeah, I still do it.
Starting point is 00:20:23 I will say the first time that my husband and I realized that there is some sort of connection with Soraya to the other side was actually when she was a baby. And this was in a moment of my pure utmost desperation. She was an infant. And when she was an infant, she would not sleep. and we would have to tube feed her every three hours, but she had reflux. So then she would throw up. Then we would have to look at how much she threw up and try again through her G-tube and hold her upright for another hour. And so the whole process of feeding her every three hours was about an hour and a half.
Starting point is 00:21:09 And I could not get her to calm down. And it was my turn. And I was sobbing as she was sobbing. And I literally was praying and saying, God, I can't. cannot do this anymore. Like I cannot, I don't have it in me to do this. Like I, people say, God doesn't give you what you can't handle. And I'm like, I can't do, I can't do this. And I had texted my husband. I'm like, I know it's not your turn. Can you tag me out? I just, I just can't. And so he came. And then he had put Soraya down, even though she was crying to check on me.
Starting point is 00:21:42 And so she's crying in her room. We've got the baby monitor on. And I'm sobbing. And I'm like, I'm at my wits end. I'm not strong anymore. I can't do this. And I look at the camera and there is this white light that is stroking Soraya while she is calming down. And it was there for hours. Calming her down. Calming her down. Yeah. And we recorded this. This is making me cry. I've never heard anything like this in my life. I literally, I am being a little bit more censored of the feelings that I had at that moment of my desperation. of like really wanting to give up, I will say. Really asking for help, but then also really truly believing that there was no help. And so like it was that kind of desperation. This wasn't like a bad day.
Starting point is 00:22:37 This was like trying to imagine what our life would look like on very little sleep, trying to keep up with our jobs, trying to keep up with this trajectory of life that we thought was going to be our life. And so at that moment, we felt like that moment was so sacred that we recorded it, but only showed her grandparents. And both sides of grandparents are very devout in their faiths. And so they were like, this is a great sign, like just take it for what it is. And we also are very protective of how we share this information, which is why we love what you do in the sense of like not to exploit this. This is something beautiful that I do think all of us have the ability. Or maybe not. Maybe those that are. It depends. I guess I should ask Raya. She has some ideas on this.
Starting point is 00:23:30 Yeah. But that was the first time. When she started talking, she would talk about somebody that was with her. And so we always kind of joke that it was like her imaginary friend. And when I would say like, oh, how long has this person been with you? And she's like, oh, they're with me when I sleep. They, I was like, do they go to school with you? She's like, yeah. And I'm like, well, how long have they been with you? She's like, since I was inside of your belly. And so then it was kind of like, okay, she might be right. Like I never doubt her. Like I think that's the other thing is I never. challenge, I just keep it open and around that. I take it as it is. I take it as it is. And in that same time, you know, her older sister would talk about bright lights that she would see. And then there was a time where her older sister stopped talking about it. And she was like, I don't see him anymore. I wish I could. And so there was always something about what. And she still doesn't talk about it. Yeah. You know, what is it about being younger, being more features? fearless, being more unfiltered, and then as she got older, it's not that she would tell us much, but there was a time where we're sitting at the table. And I have this uncle that Soraya never met.
Starting point is 00:24:43 He actually died when I was 12. He is the best. I will start by saying that. He was like a father to me. So my parents were divorced and my mom was a single mom and she moved in with her brother, which is this uncle. So he was like a dad. And he was so kind. And every. night he would put me to bed and he would say, all right, while everybody's sleeping. I'm going to come wake you up. You and me are going to go party. We're going to party all night or all everybody else is sleeping. Yeah, this is what we're talking. That's what we're talking about. Yes. And he also was a chain smoker in the 80s and just smoked nonstop. And so we're sitting at the table one day. And again, Sorai doesn't really know about this uncle or any stories about him other than I
Starting point is 00:25:26 had uncles that have passed away. So she's sitting there and she's like, mom. and she starts doing this movement with her hands, which I've never seen her do. She's like, your uncle is smoking. Yes, right. But I didn't know what she was doing. She's like, your uncle is so kind and funny. And I'm like, which uncle? And then she's like, you know, the one that passed away on your mom's side. And I'm still like, there's more than one. And she's still doing this. She's like, the one that smoked all the time. And I was like, oh my God, I know exactly who you're talking about. And I said, okay, well, what's he saying? And she's like, he's the party. And that word is our word. And when my husband's, one of his best friends, had passed away,
Starting point is 00:26:09 this was a Navy colleague. She really gave some speeches from him, but it was like. And like visible letters. Yeah. Like she would talk like how he was talking, although it would be her voice. But it's almost like the language that she would use was so much more fluent than what she is capable of with her speech delays. She would say like, hey, brother, I'm really proud of you. Like, you've got a good life with this family. I'm really proud of the surgeon that you've become. And these are things that she doesn't even have context of their relationship. You know, they might be like one-liners, but they were meaningful. And so that really hit me, where then I was like, oh, can you do that?
Starting point is 00:27:05 What did you mean by do that? Like, can you connect with people? Like, can you? And she said, yeah. On the other side. On the other side. And it was just kind of overwhelming. Hi.
Starting point is 00:27:18 Come on in, Dad. We can't even ask you a few questions, too, before we. Yeah, it's okay if you're on the camera because. Yeah. I don't want to be able to see my YouTube. He's the skeptic, just so you know. Hey, everyone, it's Kai, and this is Rue. And Rue has become obsessed with our Lolo Blanket,
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Starting point is 00:29:52 The style sell out, so don't sit on it. That's Zeni, Z-E-N-N-I-com slash podcast. promo code podcast 15. So Safi, Sarai's dad, just joined us for a few answers and questions. So Safi, why don't you introduce yourself on what you do for a living? Sure. My name is Safi Furuki. I'm actually an orthopedic cancer surgeon in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Starting point is 00:30:21 And more importantly, I'm the father of three beautiful girls, including Soraya. And I'm Tasha's less smart half. Your wife is the coolest. Yes. She told us the story, and I'd love for you to retell it because I thought there's two stories she told that were pretty remarkable. The first one being when she was at Witt's End, when, sorry, I was having a hard time eating when she was little. Do you remember that story? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:30:47 Yeah. What happened and, like, did it feel real to you? Yes. So, like, one of the things that we really kind of had to struggle with initially is that, so Tosh described exactly kind of how the nighttime would go. But that's exactly what we would do. We did that for four and a half, almost five years. So like literally every night, one of us was up most of the night. And in the daytime, we'd go and work.
Starting point is 00:31:13 And so in one of those experiences, it was really struggling. And, you know, it was disheartening every time we would give her feeds. And then she would throw up because that would automatically mean there was going to be a longer time for her to not be sleeping. that she's going to, we'd have to rock her, like literally we would rock her for almost. I mean, it ended up being days and weeks and months if you, like, added up. So, like, that particular evening, like, when she was crying and both of us were at a point where, like, this is almost not sustainable. Like, we're not sleeping, like, neither one of us. And we got to work full time and, like, I'm operating during the day and then I'm not sleeping at night.
Starting point is 00:31:57 And then, like, getting to rest what you can. You nap when you can. But, like, you know, in that moment, like, when the monitor kind of got quiet, like, it was, you know, I didn't honestly know, like, you know, full disclosure. I'm a super skeptic, like, scientific kind of minded person. And so, like, I am, I usually try to find things that I can't explain, usually try to find what is a scientific justification for doing that. Then there are certain things, of course, you can't. Like if you are religious in any way, by definition, the definition of faith is belief in the unseen, right? So, like, there has to be some level of acceptance of things that are perhaps not able to be explained by science, but I'm still like a science, scientists at back at heart.
Starting point is 00:32:43 But, like, what we were looking at the monitor, it really did. It looked like a white light that was actually traveling back and forth over the area of the crib right where she was. And then she stopped crying. And, like, it was, like, for me, like almost disconcerning because I'm like, wow, what, what is happening? Like, is this, like, is this a good thing or a bad thing? That was the first thing I thought, I was like, it's, it's great that she's not crying, but like, what, what exactly is that, right? And so when we took the video, like, you know, I, you know, my, my folks are pretty religious as are my wife's parents. And so, like,
Starting point is 00:33:21 I said it really more for like the concept of like, like, can you help me process? Like, what am I looking at here? Because what I'm seeing is something. something that is soothing my daughter that is, I mean, I went in there. I mean, like, I was the first one I was like, I'm going to go upstairs. And I went in there, myself with my own eyes, there's nothing I can see. There's nothing visible that I can physically see in the room. And then, but she's quiet. She's not crying. And so, like, come back down and still there, still there on the monitor. So you can see the monitor, but not. I can see the monitor, right, but I could, they want to show itself, I feel like. I couldn't see it in real life. And so, like, you know, like my, my dad was like,
Starting point is 00:33:59 listen, he's like, you know, there are things that we can't explain, but I don't feel like something that is soothing Soraya is going to be something that you have to worry about. But it's not something that I would say, like, let's advertise this to everyone in the whole world. Like, this is this this is like just for you guys. This is like just, this is a hopefully a sign that things are at some point, you know, you're going to be able to manage like what feels to be unmanageable, you know. And so I think that it was, it was, in my look, retrospective, look, look, look back at it. It was pretty, pretty incredible, like, because it doesn't, it didn't make a lot of sense to me then. And it doesn't make sense to me now, like, what exactly that was.
Starting point is 00:34:37 What faith background did you guys grow up in? So both, we are deval Muslim. And so, like, you know, they're growing up, that's exactly kind of, I was. We're like half, for my dad's side, half Indian, and then my mom's side, half Bangladesh. Right. So you're... A type of Muslim.
Starting point is 00:34:58 So my love like, yes. You are half Indian and half Bangladesh. That is a true statement. Both of my parents of India, both Natasha's parents are from Bangladesh. So your parents were like, okay, we think it's a safe thing. Yes.
Starting point is 00:35:11 Okay. Yeah. Yeah. And this is something that like I think that is, it's not a negative, right? Like I think that, you know, sometimes things happen that we can't explain that, especially like in in in if let if there's any bit of a negative connotation it can be a little bit disconcerning right
Starting point is 00:35:30 I mean like sorry watches a lot of like shows about hauntings and things of that nature and like houses houses and like she is not scared by these things but while I'm doing her meds and we're seeing the Annabelle doll like like it's a little different thing around like I'm not sure of that could be classified as that's awesome that's good you know like there's something a little bit disconcerning about yeah that, but this wasn't that. So tell me about, like, what, you know, Soraya clearly has a deep connection with the other side that's very real. And when did you start to believe that what she was seeing and experiencing wasn't made up, like that she was probably really connecting with people on the other side? So it took Soraya a long time to learn how to talk. It took Sarai a long time.
Starting point is 00:36:14 Like, we were wondering if she was going to be able to communicate. And so, like, even in the early. early stages of her starting to communicate, sometimes she would say things that I can, I know for a fact that Tasha and I have not said. And at that point, our other kiddos were, it was just yes, me, and she was like five years. She's not using that language. The people that are coming into the house aren't using that language. And so, like, can't explain that. So that was like my first kind of clue. I'm like, okay, I can't explain that. And what would be like something that maybe should say even if so like the first time um i distinctly remember this like there was a device that
Starting point is 00:36:57 we got called a stander and so a stander is when you cannot bear weight um it kind of helps try to build like not just bone health but the ability to kind of stand up it's the first time i got it in her house like it really depressed me because it is actually a it's a physical representation of something that I know has not a good long-term outcome. Like I'm an orthopedic surgeon by trade. Like we use standards and kids with cerebral palsy and things of that that can never walk or really struggle walking. And so like, you know, in that moment, like Soraya had, like, I want to say she was
Starting point is 00:37:34 maybe three and maybe two and a half or three, not saying too many words. And she clear as day, you know, said in. No distinct terms, because I remember, because I was sitting in the kitchen, and she was over and she looked to me, she's like, Dad, it's okay. This is okay. And I have not heard, at that point, I had not heard those words, like literally coming out of her mouth in that way. It was a very distinct. At that point, it was like one word, barely answers, not sure if she's understanding, but then I didn't hear anything like that for a while. And so, like, in that moment, I did need that. There's no doubt. But the thing is, I wasn't talking about it.
Starting point is 00:38:16 It wasn't like I was like walking in the house and like, oh, my God, I can't believe this thing's in the house. And like you could infer that what I'm thinking. I was just looking at him. I was sitting in the kitchen. We had an island kitchen is like a little window. You could look down into the family room and I was just staring at it. That's it. So interesting.
Starting point is 00:38:32 And so like those type of things like slowly but surely I'm like, I don't understand those things. But I cannot find good solutions other than got to take it at face value because I, How else can you possibly explain it? For both of you, maybe you just give like a quick snapshot of what in the Islam faith people believe about the afterlife and the soul. Yeah, I would, I would say I believe in all beliefs, definitely. Yeah. And even our history, I love knowing the history. And I think that, you know, in Islam we certainly believe that, you know, like our purpose here on this earth is not just this earth.
Starting point is 00:39:12 It's, it's, it's, our, our job here or our purpose here is to, you know, do as many good deeds as you can. And then at the end, we, we have a little day of reckoning and we figure out how we do. And I think that, you know, part of that belief and thought process is this concept of the soul. And the soul is like, it is what is, you know, essentially breathe into our body. And it's like, we have a physical representation of who we are, but then you have the soul representation of actually what God has given you. This is who you are. And like, you know, like in many faith traditions, there are some version of, you know, there's angels that are collecting good deeds and bad deeds and how are you doing.
Starting point is 00:39:51 And like, you know, with the thought process that God gives you free will and the ability to do either good things or bad things. And that's up to you to figure out how you want to do. There's obviously different books of faith that can help you try to navigate that depending on kind of how you think about those things. And so, like, I think that for me, like, the concept of the soul is very, it's a very, very distinct and real one. I, you know, I have been in the room, you know, multiple times in my medical career when people pass away, you know, like we're in the hospital. And, you know, we always talk about how it gets cold. There, that's a, that's a thing. I don't think everybody's ever, I never seen a study where people have quantified the temperatures when somebody passes away.
Starting point is 00:40:33 But, like, there is no doubt. Like, I have been in the room myself. You can't deny that. and like in multiple times. So like I don't know what that is. Okay. So like, so, you know, is it the soul, escaping the body and heading back to God?
Starting point is 00:40:45 You know, unless you truly somehow, you know, had a, got an email from God saying, yep, you're right. This is exactly what it was. You're not going to know, right? And so like, but that is for me like absolutely fundamental. Like I think that the soul is most definitely an important part of who we are. Yeah. And then so your friend's name was Chris, right?
Starting point is 00:41:07 I'd love to hear the story because I think we kind of touched on that but I think she was kind of waiting for you to share it so I'd love for you to talk about that and so what was the first experience in Soraya if you want to talk about that too I remember it you know like
Starting point is 00:41:20 you know experience where you heard Soraya was communicating with Chris after he'd passed so I think that even before that I think that there was a non-Sariahe story that I probably should tell first so like the day that Chris passed away he's a very young and healthy human
Starting point is 00:41:37 and he passed away of a massive cardiac event and no rhyme to reason. I mean, he kind of looks like the Incredible Hulk. He literally. And so Chris, the night that he passed, like I was a mess, as you might imagine. Yeah, I think. And so, like, crying? I was crying a lot.
Starting point is 00:41:59 Yeah, I think. And so, you know, we had like a little trio, me, him and my buddy Rob. And so, like, Rob had called me and said, like, look, like, this is what just happened. like last night and like, you know, it was devastating for me. And so like I was sitting in our study and I was trying to talk to Tasha, but I was like not in a great place, you know, and like, you know, one of the things that Chris and I, he is, you know, one of the best dads I ever knew. Like Chris is, was the model of how we should be as parents.
Starting point is 00:42:31 And so like the most, one of the most invested humans and his oldest daughter was just, starting medical school. She passed away the first week of med school. And like Chris, she wanted to do what he did. She wanted to be him. And like, and like, or that doesn't be him, but like do what he did. And so like, I remember, like, talking with Tasha and like we were like, I was like, I got to take care of Kelly. I was like to figure out how we're going to do this. And I was like, you know, like maybe she can come and rotate in Cincinnati. So on it, this was like during the summertime. So clear crystal day. The lights in our study went out. completely off, completely on, right? And so, like, I didn't think much of it when it first happened. I was like, all right, dude, electrical surge. Like, I don't know what's happening, but.
Starting point is 00:43:14 So then I said the words, like, again, I was like, we have to take care of her. And, like, I was like, I'm going to take care of her. Lights on, lights off. And again, I was like, okay, so now I'm actually listening. I'm like, I'm not sure what the second one was, but I refused to believe that this is a coincidence. Like, there's no, there's no storm.
Starting point is 00:43:35 There's no way for the electrical surge are happening. And so I kind of decided to tempt fate a little and I just talked about it again. And this time purposely lights on, lights off, like clearly like all studies lights off, all study lights on. So I truly like felt and this is coming from a known skeptic. I was like, Chris is here or some version of him is here because like this is what he would want me to do. And because I know for a fact that the roles were reversed, Chris would take care of these girls. like forever. And so like, you know,
Starting point is 00:44:10 that was the first time. I was like, okay, so like there is something about Chris, like, um, he's around, like in some capacity.
Starting point is 00:44:17 I don't know what that is, but he's around some capacity. So then like, there was a time where we were at Great Wolf Lodge and we're, we're going to dinner. I'm sitting sitting next to Soraya and she's like, hey,
Starting point is 00:44:30 your friend is here. And I was like, who's my friend? She goes, your friend, Dr. Hogan, he's here. And I was like,
Starting point is 00:44:37 like, oh, it's like, fantastic. I'm glad Chris is here. I have no idea. Like, what's you saying? But then she's like, no, no, he's here and he needs to tell you a few things. So on this, me and her, on the drive from our hotel room to dinner, Soraya starts talking to me about all the things that Chris wants to me to know. And it's stuff that I have never discussed with Soraya. I have never talked with Saraya. It's like Navy stuff. And some of it's like, like surgery stuff. Some of it's like, hey, hey, you know, you said something along the lines of, like, good job of keep trying to do the hard cases. Well, the thing is, oh, Chris and I, he was like an almost a mentor to me and like we would do some really difficult stuff together. In surgery, like in medical work.
Starting point is 00:45:20 Yeah, like, like medically speaking, like really complex stuff. And like, I never talked to Soraya about that. And so like, by the time I got to the table at Great Wolf Lodge, I was like, this is, I was like a little like, I know what the word is. Was it like... I was pensive because I couldn't believe what I was hearing because I was like, and I couldn't, in my logical minds, like, trying to put that together as if like, okay, so what, how does she know this? How is it possible for her to know these particulars of what I'm talking about? Because I try my best not to talk shop to the girls unless they ask me about something because, like, I'm a dad first and then I'm a surgeon in a far second or third. So like, like, it's not something I want that I'm.
Starting point is 00:46:08 I used to give a talk to residents about like life balance, right? And like, it's like at the end of your life, you're not going to talk about how many surgeries you did or how many patients you saw. You're going to be like, essentially four or five things. Like, were you a good human? Were you a good son or daughter? Were you a good husband or wife? Were you good to the world? Were you a good father or mom?
Starting point is 00:46:29 You know, like, those are the things that we think about right before we pass. We don't do anything else. So I'm like, I try to do that. And the fact that Soraya was able to like dead on tell me things that I'm like, I just, I don't know what that is, Saraii, but I was like, but again, I have to take it full, like full bore because it doesn't make any other sense any other way. And so like I actually feel blessed by hearing it because I feel I miss him less because occasionally I get something like that. And it's like, okay. And regardless of how I'm trying to frame it, it is still really like good to know that, I'm,
Starting point is 00:47:03 that somebody as good as him is still around in some ways. Soraya, anything you want to add to any of the stuff your dad just mentioned? I feel like for me, I don't know what me may say, Chris. I think my brain was like, I think something happened to him. I don't know what it is. And my brain's like, I don't know, but I don't know. if what happened, but he's here.
Starting point is 00:47:36 I feel like to this day, I learn from this child and my other two girls every day. Like, like, there is something that's some lesson that's taught. And like, and I know that other parents have these same lessons from our kids, but like, this one's a little bit different in the way that you hopefully can perceive the world. Like, we don't have to have it in a very rigid way. There are ways that are beyond us that we should be able to at least be semi-eimized. open to to like think about because maybe it makes us better humans. Wonderful. Sorai, what a great story.
Starting point is 00:48:10 I mean, you're such an unbelievable gift and inspiration to so many people. We're going to end today's episode here. But next week, we'll continue Sorai's story. Dive deeper into some truly unexplained experiences and learn more about her unique gifts. You definitely don't want to miss it. That's it for this episode of the Talk Tracks. But new episodes will be released every Wednesday. So stay tuned as we work to unravel all the things.
Starting point is 00:48:33 threads, even the veiled ones that knit together are reality. And please remember to stay kind, stay curious, and that being a true skeptic requires an open mind. To dive in deeper, subscribe to our backstage pass by visiting our website. With it, you'll unlock access to bonus content like telepathy tests, ask me anything interviews with myself and guests. You'll be able to enjoy the podcast ad-free, connect with other members on our telepathy tribe discord, and hear and see exclusive content from the telepathy tapes vault. Visit our website at the telepathy. Visit our website at the telepathy tapes.com for more info on how to subscribe to our backstage pass. Thank you to my amazing collaborators.
Starting point is 00:49:10 Producers Catherine Ellis and Selena Kennedy. Technical directing audio mix and finishing by Jeremy Cole. Opening and closing music by Elizabeth P.W. And original logo and cover art by Ben Kandora Design. I'm Kai Dickens, your executive producer, writer, and host.

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