Loading
Preparing the page…
Please wait a moment while the content is being prepared.
A TRUE STORY OF A FATHER AND DAUGHTER
A TRUE STORY OF A FATHER AND DAUGHTER
Between two heartbeats, she became his daughter. Between two heartbeats, she became his forever.
AVAILABLE NOW
A father's love. A daughter's journey.
A story that gives voice to the unheard.
Synopsis
Beginning with Fareesa's difficult arrival into the world and moving through the later events that reshaped her family's life, The Silence Between Two Heartbeats follows a father through hospital corridors, sleepless nights, whispered prayers, and the moments when love is the only certainty left.
At its heart, this is the story of a little girl's courage. When medical uncertainty upends the certainties of childhood, she meets it with a quiet, stubborn bravery that reshapes everyone around her. Her father — a member of the FDNY, accustomed to anticipating danger and acting under pressure — finds himself powerless in a different way: unable to command what happens next, able only to stay, advocate, and hope.
The book unfolds in two intertwined parts. The first is grounded in lived experience: difficult conversations, small family rituals, faith, fear, and a father's determination to preserve every moment he can. It is written with the honesty of someone who lived every page.
The second part steps into myth. The same emotional journey is carried by a kingdom of ancient owls, enchanted castles, and a “little lioness” whose courage becomes the center of the tale. This parallel world is not an escape from the real story; it is a translation of it — a way for metaphor to hold what ordinary language cannot.
Moving between memoir and fable, the book becomes a meditation on parental love, helplessness, resilience, and the stories families create when reality is too heavy to carry alone. Ultimately, it is a father's tribute to his daughter and to a bond that fear, uncertainty, and separation could not erase.
Book details
Inside the story
Harvard Library Catalog
The Silence Between Two Heartbeats by A T M Haidar Khan is cataloged in the Harvard Library Catalog as a Countway Medicine holding. HOLLIS No. 99162437178003941.
Featured research question
The Silence Between Two Heartbeats documents a caregiver's lived experience of suspected seizure activity following NICU discharge for HIE, highlighting a potential gap in the caregiver's ability to objectively document concerning neurological events at home. This concern warrants further research into safe, clinically validated methods that could help caregivers recognize and record such events, provide clinicians with more objective information, and ultimately support more timely, precise, and standardized care for high-risk infants.
Community impact
The Silence Between Two Heartbeats was written from lived experience, not as a medical guide. Its hoped-for contribution is human: to help parents, caregivers, professionals, and support organizations find recognition, language, and companionship in experiences that can otherwise feel isolating or difficult to explain.
For families whose journeys include neonatal intensive care, HIE, seizures, feeding concerns, developmental uncertainty, therapy, or the long emotional aftermath of a medical crisis, the memoir offers the perspective of another family who has lived through fear, vigilance, small milestones, and the search for hope.
Professional inquiries
Book information, interview inquiries, institutional requests, and digital review-copy requests may be directed through the Foundation's contact page.