Things were looking up for Aksa Joel.
She was about to be granted American citizenship and was excited that her family in Pakistan would finally be able to visit her in Colorado – by Christmas maybe.
On top of that, the 34-year-old mother was accepted into nursing school last week, a feat that would secure a good future for her 3-year-old girl.
“She was in such a hopeful place the last couple of weeks,” Karen Petersen said Saturday of her close friend.
On Thursday, everything changed.
A couple found the child floating face down and the mother at the bottom of a pool in a Lakewood condominium. The two were pulled from the water and rushed to the hospital. The child, Shannon Joel, died shortly after.
Now, Aksa Joel is on life support at St. Anthony Central Hospital while her parents and brother scramble to make travel plans to the United States.
“There’s a lot of red tape,” Petersen said Saturday. She said nurses at the hospital and friends have been doing everything they can to help the family get to Colorado, but they have encountered bureaucratic obstacles.
“They believe they can get them over here,” she said.
Joel had a lot of friends in her new community. She would invite her girlfriends over and cook Pakistani curry dishes for them. Friends said the young, working mother was an inspiration to them because of her strong faith and spirit.
In October 2004, she divorced Furrukh Joel, her Pakistani husband from an arranged marriage in her native country. She left behind a teaching career to come to the U.S. Although she encountered some pressure from the Pakistani community here, she also found huge support in friends she made through North Presbyterian Church in Denver.
“I was impressed with her integrity in the divorce,” the Rev. Larry Grimm, pastor of the church, said. “It was a very difficult thing to do in the Pakistani community.”
Grimm and other friends said Joel never blamed her ex-husband and often said he was a good father to Shannon.
Much of Joel’s life centered around her daughter.
“She really lived for Shannon,” Grimm said.
Petersen, who described Shannon as very happy and an “angel,” had lunch with Joel just two weeks ago. It was before Joel had received word of her acceptance to nursing school. Joel told Petersen she really wanted to get into the school so she could make a good life for Shannon.
“I can always keep praying and hope for a miracle,” Joel said.
A hospital spokeswoman said Joel remained in critical condition Saturday night.
Staff writer Abbe Smith can be reached at 303-820-1201 or asmith@denverpost.com.
