She went on to become a photojournalist, moving back to Bosnia to open the School of Photography in Zenica. Recently, Muminovic worked as a Public Relations Specialist at Medica Zenica, a women’s non-governmental organization that specializes in protecting women and girls.
In October of 2023, Muminovic received news that her father was diagnosed with stage four gastric cancer and moved back to Bowling Green, Ky., putting her career on hold to become her dad's full-time caretaker.
From January through April of 2024 Muminovic was her father's full time caregiver, from 1 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. when her brother got home from work. Because she was with her dad everyday she didn't have a chance to pursue photography. "I've been here in the house (with her father) for, like, 17 to 18 hours," Muminovic said. "We were in my former room, and the thing is, my father was so anxious and if I have to step out, he'll be like, 'how long?' 'I'll be like, two minutes, five minutes.' He's like, 'okay, hurry up.' Even like [a] few minutes was so long for him. ...He was so anxious. I have a list of things, from the moment I walk into the room at like 1 a.m. and until I walk out at like 6:30 p.m. every 3 or 4 minutes, he needs something."
“He was so fragile and so gentle and, I kind of learned more how truly he was, gentle,” Muminovic said.
Muminovic has recently taken an interest in the Catholic faith. She went through classes at the local Catholic Church so that she can be baptized, receive Communion and be confirmed as a formal member of the church.
Muminovic picks up laundry detergent for her brother at Walmart on Morgantown Road in Bowling Green on Sunday, April 21, 2024. One of Muminovic's duties as a caretaker was to run errands when she had a break from being by her dad's side.
Muminovic cleans dirty dishes that her brother had left soaking in the sink. Muminovic spent much of her week in the hospital with her father and was given a break Sunday morning while her brother visited him. She went back to the hospital later that afternoon to ensure that her father wouldn't be alone.
Muminovic looks at a casket for her father the afternoon following his death early that morning. Kemal Muminovic’s official time of death was 12:35 a.m on Wednesday, April 24, 2024. He was 73. Muminovic spent the afternoon alone at the funeral home making arrangements while her eldest brother worked and her other brother arranged a flight from his home in Sweden.
Muminovic spends time in the prayer chapel at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Bowling Green the morning following her father's death on Wednesday, April 24, 2024. "I prayed to be with him (her father) on the last day, [and] I was," Muminovic said. "Actually it wasn't a prayer, it was a feeling I received through the Holy Spirit that I would be the one there. Even if my oldest brother was the most connected to Dad, but he is also handling the situation differently and with more grief, so I felt this is why this moment was given to me."
Muminovic rests her hand on her father's casket before his funeral at St. Joseph Historic Catholic Cemetery on Saturday, April 27, 2024.
From left: Friends of Muminovic's father, Dejan Vrban, Ljubica Vrban and his children, Goran Muminovic, Zlatko Muminovic, and Muminovic watch as Kemal Muminovic's casket is lowered into the ground at his funeral on Saturday, April 27, 2024. “For us, it was such an intimate funeral because it was all the closest people [to us] and people that were there even since the time when my mom passed and I was so happy to see them,” Muminovic said.
Vedrana Weaver hugs Muminovic during her father's funeral at St. Joseph Historic Catholic Cemetery on Saturday, April 27, 2024. Muminovic and Weaver have been friends for over 24 years and Weaver helped Muminovic get through her mom's death while they were in high school.
From left: Goran Muminovic, Muminovic and Zlatko Muminovic hang out together at their home after their father's funeral on Saturday, April 27, 2024. Goran Muminovic went back to his home in Sweden two days later.
Muminovic rests on the couch in her family’s home after her father’s funeral on Saturday, April 27, 2024. “I just felt that I had completed my role and my mission through this caregiving process,” Muminovic said. “…I really felt so proud. So fulfilled. It’s crazy to say, I'm not happy that my dad is gone. I wish, of course he lived longer to see us do things in life. But we also have to learn to accept that it's part of life, that death is normal, and whenever it comes, you have to consider it as your reality. And so I did.”
Muminovic and her father's former doctor, Walker, prepare to leave for a roadtrip to North Carolina on Thursday, May 2, 2024. The two began dating after Muminovic's father encouraged her to reach out to Walker when he noticed the doctor "had an eye" for her. "Next for me? If I'm being honest is probably going back to Bosnia for a couple of months, packing my cats and bringing them here back to Bowling Green and I'm going to take my sweet time," Muminovic said. "I think I'm going to write a book about this experience and just my life in general, before I rush myself into any work that pays. And, I'm going to speak ahead of the time, but probably forming a family or something like that. I feel like that's next for me. It was like something I prayed for at the shrine (in October). I wanted it then, so I asked then to be led to that."
