Rafa Saeed passed away in her home on August 10, 2023, at the age of 16, after fighting liver cancer for almost two years.
Rafa was born in Khartoum, Sudan, and moved to America as a child to seek treatment for a heart problem at Boston Children’s Hospital. She miraculously overcame her illness and started going to school in Cambridge in the fourth grade. She was reserved at first but soon flourished into the smart, funny, charismatic girl classmates and teachers alike adored. She loved music and was a talented singer. By the time she started her freshman year at CRLS, Rafa was known by all for her radiant smile that could light up a room. She spoke Arabic and English, and loved learning languages; she took Chinese at Rindge and studied Korean for many years on her own. After she was diagnosed with stage 4 Hepatocellular Carcinoma at the end of 2021, she was mostly confined to her home and the hospital, so she took up makeup as a hobby. She was something of a celebrity at the Dana Farber Jimmy Fund Clinic, where she befriended patients and nurses. She mostly spent time at home with her family, caring for her younger sister, Reema, and hanging out with me, her best friend.
Rafa was an endlessly resilient, brilliant girl. She is survived by her mother, Moni; her father, Rabi; her brothers, Babikir (15) and Yaseen (13); and her younger sister Reema (2).
This article also appears in our September 2023 print edition.
