Asil Aldarawsheh: A Nurse Motivated By Trauma To Fight Back
Days after her debut fight in December 2019, 28-year-old Asil Aldarawsheh found herself in her home away from home — the gym. With everyone else on holiday break, Aldarawsheh got back to her routine as quickly as she could. A lifelong athlete, Aldarawsheh feels as comfortable training as she does eating.
When she first visited the UFC Gym in Oak Lawn, a village southwest of Chicago, in 2013, Aldarawsheh admitted she could barely complete a pushup and had very little knowledge about mixed martial arts. With her parents and family thinking she was training to stay fit, she learned how to fight as a way to inspire others. Aldarawsheh said she fights and trains in honor of the strength of the trauma patients she sees in her work as an emergency room nurse.
We caught up with Aldarawsheh immediately following her first kickboxing fight in front of a packed audience at Joe’s Live in Rosemont, Illinois, and we chatted again a few days later at the Oak Lawn gym. Though she was recovering from a tough loss, Aldarawsheh was hopeful that she’d be in the Octagon again and looked to continue her training.
Palestine in America (PiA): Tell us how you came to be a first-generation Palestinian American.
Asil Aldarawsheh (AA): My parents were born in Palestine. They lived there for a while, but during the war [the Nakba of 1948], they had to migrate to Jordan, which is a country adjacent to Palestine. They lived there for a [majority] of their lives because they couldn’t go back home. Then, they came here [to America in 1993], where I was born and raised in Chicago.
PiA: How did you get started fighting?
AA: Actually, I started in this gym — the UFC Gym — in about 2013. I didn’t really know what it was; I didn’t know how to do a pushup, how to throw a jab; I couldn’t do anything. I did my first class … and after the 15-minute warmup, I went outside and started puking my brains out. [The instructor] comes out and I’m thinking he’s going to ask me if I’m okay, but he’s like, “The class is not over, get back inside. “There are no breaks in my class.”
In the middle of heaving, I’m just asking myself, “What did I get myself into?” So I got back into the class and I finished it and I realized that I loved it.
PiA: How do your parents feel about you fighting? What was the conversation like when you told them you were interested in mixed martial arts?
AA: I don’t think they were surprised because I’m always looking for a new challenge, or a new adventure. When I told them that I had a kickboxing opportunity come up, they were kind of like, “OK, what’s next?!” Nothing really surprises them anymore, but they asked if I was sure I wanted to do it and if it was the right decision. [They said] things like, “You have such a pretty face; why would you want to ruin it?” But I think now they understand why I want to do it. It’s such a challenge. You push yourself in ways you never think you could, days and days of training — and the work to just get in the cage. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever done before.
PiA: Were you an athlete growing up? What other sports are you into? It doesn’t sound like your parents were too surprised to hear you doing something athletic.
AA: I’m the black sheep of the family. I’m always doing something outside of the box. Especially, as a Palestinian American women, it’s very rare because in our culture women … are put on a pedestal. We don’t want men to see them in a way where they could be put in a vulnerable situation. But me, growing up, I wanted to hold myself accountable. I didn’t want my family to be my protectors; I wanted to protect myself.
My family constantly tells me, “You just keep pushing your limit, you keep pushing your limit.” But that’s just who I am; I’ve always been a fighter. Growing up, I was always in sports. Volleyball was my No. 1. I’ve done basketball, softball, and soccer. I played volleyball in highschool, but had to stop in college because of my nursing program. I still play volleyball every Thursday night and do leagues every summer, so I’m still really active.
I’ve been running for the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, a nonprofit organization that provides medical attention to children in Palestine. We’ve been able to help build a few clinics and hospitals in Palestine with donations that have been raised [from the runs].
We created a subgroup called Team Palestine for PCRF here in Chicago, and we want to go nationally. We are a running team, so what we do is organize races and groups to raise money for the charity. Every year we do the Chicago Marathon, and I ran that a couple months ago in October with my team. We were 60 people deep; it was our 10th anniversary. We raised, I think, just over $150,000 for Palestine just by racing [in 2019].
PiA: Let’s get back to your day job. You mentioned that you were a nurse. How does your fighter’s spirit help you when you are serving people who might have experienced something as terrible as sexual assault?
AA: It might sound cheesy, but I feel like I was always meant to be a nurse. I’ve always loved helping people. Growing up, my parents were always in and out of the hospital, and I never knew how to help them. I think I was 10 at a job fair at my school, and I think that’s where I decided that I wanted to be a nurse. I get so much peace and happiness from seeing others being happy and at peace. I get a lot of gratitude from helping others. It may sound selfish now that I’m saying it out loud, but I’m doing it because it makes me happy. It lets me empower another human being, especially at times when they are at their lowest.You don’t need a thank you; you can see [the appreciation] in their eyes.
I recently enrolled in the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners Program. It’s a program to give nurses the training and tools they need to collect evidence after a victim comes in. It goes through the steps of caring for the patient and making sure that they receive the support they need even after they leave the hospital.
You can train all day long, but you never know what would happen if you were in that situation. I learn a lot from my patients, and I do the best I can to make sure people are supported in whatever way they can to feel like they have a voice.
PiA: Are there any other ways in which your identity as a nurse and your identity as a fighter might crossover?
AA: I think, in general, just keep going and never quit [attitude]. Especially working in an emergency room, it’s go, go, go. There are days when I don’t have time to eat or use the washroom because you are consistently working for 12 hours. It doesn’t hit you until after you leave for the day that you might recall, “Did I just really restart that guy’s heart with my own hands?”
PiA: What does it mean to you to be a fighter? Do you feel like you’re setting an example for other women looking to do what you’ve done?
AA: I definitely feel so. You don’t hear of a lot of women fighters. For me, personally, I don’t consider myself to be a fighter after just one fight. But I actually have to sign a contract saying that my arms and legs are considered weapons, so I guess I am a fighter.
I have so much support and so many people messaging me. Some of the messages have been of people telling me how I’m setting the bar high for women to push their limit, to do something out of the ordinary. It felt good to know that people are watching and that people are taking my experience to say, “You know, if she can do it, then let’s do it.”
PiA: What would be your advice to the young lady that wants to do something different but is concerned about how it may make others feel?
AA: I’ve always lived my life this way, and [it’s] my favorite quote to live by: “Take the risk or lose the chance.” I swear by it, and my family will tell you that I do whatever I want and whatever I put my mind to. There is no stopping me. I appreciate everyone’s comments, concerns, and feedback about how my face is too pretty to do this and [questions about] why I would want to be in a cage where men are staring at me, but I don’t care.
That’s not why I’m doing this. I’m doing this to prove to myself that I can do it. I want to challenge myself in ways I didn’t think I could, and I want to push my limit. It’s not about getting hurt; it’s about the fight. It’s about the courage to do what I put my mind to.
