Metaphorically speaking, she made a lemon meringue pie instead, and shared it with others in her situation, to help sweeten their lives.
Miss Abdul Aziz was in her first year of health sciences at the University of Otago, with dreams of becoming a dentist, when she was diagnosed with Graves' disease — an autoimmune thyroid condition.
The disorder, if left untreated, is not fatal but complications may negatively impact a person’s overall health or life expectancy.
Symptoms include anxiety or nervousness, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, memory problems, rapid or irregular heartbeat, heart palpitations and/or chest pain, increased appetite, diarrhoea, hand tremors, sweating, difficulty sleeping, moodiness or irritability, weight loss and hair loss, muscle weakness, difficulty swallowing and breathing, and eye pain.
"I was getting really bad brain fog and anxiety, I lost weight, my heart rate was constantly over 100, even while I was sitting or sleeping.
"It was very difficult.
"It was daunting because it was my first year, just straight out of high school and I was trying to navigate university in this new environment."
Rather than let the diagnosis and the challenging symptoms overcome her, she made some life-changing decisions that have taken her career prospects in a completely different direction — and she has had no regrets since.
She quit health sciences and started studying for a bachelor of laws and a bachelor of arts, majoring in politics and minoring in religious studies and indigenous development.
And at the same time, she became a founding member of the Otago Disabled Students’ Association.
The organisation gave people with disabilities a place where they could feel accepted and be themselves, and be with like-minded people.
It also advocated for people with disabilities at both Dunedin tertiary institutions.
Miss Abdul Aziz’s friends and family were not surprised by the move.
Even throughout her secondary schooling, she had leant towards the humanities and social science subjects.
"I wanted to put things in place that would help support other people with disabilities at the university.
"We live in quite an ableist society, so being exposed to the disabled community and just seeing how hard everyone worked and just their passion and drive really made me want to be a part of that mahi and support them.
"We found that there was a lack of community for disabled students, and so that was our main goal — to build a community and also empower the student voice."
She was humble about the legacy she had helped to create for future students with disabilities.
"I just think it's a space that needed to exist, and I just happened to be part of a group of students that kind of really pushed for that kaupapa like it could have been anyone before me."
Today, the 24-year-old will graduate with a bachelor of laws and bachelor of arts.
She planned to forge a career helping other people — this time at Oranga Tamariki, in Wellington, as a graduate solicitor helping children.
She had already "dipped" her toes into the job by co-writing a submission on the Bill repealing section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989.
"I, along with other members of the submission committee of the New Zealand Law Students’ Association, wrote a submission on that and we were able to present it to the select committee orally as well, which was pretty cool.
"The job will be challenging.
"You can disagree with those spaces, but sometimes you have to be in those spaces to foster change.
"I’m looking forward to it."
