113-year-old great grandmother reunites with family after long battle for visa
WABC, FAMILY HANDOUT, CNN
By Chanteé Lans
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LONG ISLAND, New York (WABC) — An immigrant and her family are sharing the incredible story of their long battle to get her to the United States from Pakistan.
What makes her story unusual is she is 113 years old.
When she was born, William Howard Taft was president.
After all these years, she’s now with her family on Long Island in the Nassau County hamlet of Jericho.
Sadar Khatoon spoke in Urdu, translated by her son-in-law.
The great-grandmother who was born on New Year’s Day in 1912 explained the secret to becoming the second-oldest living person in America.
“She sings all the time. She ate very well. Good food, still food, no worries at all,” her son-in-law Adam Azam said.
Her vision is a little weak but her mind is extremely sharp.
Her true love, aside from her late husband, is fashion.
“This one she doesn’t likes a good heel shoes, good-looking,” Azam said.
Khatoon moved to the United States last week from Pakistan, where she is photographed with her great-grandson at 107.
Her family endured a 6-year battle for her visa.
“The case stays in a limbo and they will keep just things in processing and processing. And then we just getting worried because of her age,” Azam said.
Congressman Tom Suozzi’s staff stepped in to expedite the process.
“I started calling around. I actually called the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan a couple of times and had my staff working with some of the folks in immigration,” Suozzi said.
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