Growing up, Michael Jordan was my Olympic hero.

I used to sleep, eat, breathe volleyball. Now I have that with my kids.

Prior to having babies, I thought - I thought I was so busy, and now I realize just how ignorant I was.

The balancing act of motherhood and a career, and being a wife, is something that I don't think I'll ever perfect, but I love the challenge of it.

When I was little, I grew up in a place called Hertfordshire, which is just near London, but out in the country, and I visited Pakistan in the summers to go and see my family on my dad's side.

In the family sandwich, the older people and the younger ones can recognize one another as the bread. Those in the middle are, for a time, the meat.

As a medical doctor, I have known the face of adversity. I have seen much of death and dying, suffering and sorrow. I also remember the plight of students overwhelmed by their studies and of those striving to learn a foreign language. And I recall the fatigue and frustration felt by young parents with children in need.

All of us kids in the neighbourhood had to go shoeless for the same reason - all except the landlord's son, because his father had more income.