Ewaz Nabizada is facing several months of recovery after suffering a health scare
In late 2021, Ahmad Zia Ataee moved to Canada from Afghanistan and settled in Sault Ste. Marie.
After fleeing that country’s oppressive regime, he is doing all he can to make life easier for a fellow newcomer from Afghanistan who is recovering from a serious medical emergency.
Ewaz Nabizada arrived at Sault Area Hospital’s emergency department at approximately 5 p.m. on April 1 with a severe headache, stiff neck and nausea.
After Nabizada underwent diagnostic imaging, doctors determined he had a brain aneurysm.
Nabizada was airlifted to Toronto Western Hospital at 12:30 a.m. on April 2.
“He has had two surgeries and is in recovery,” Ataee told SooToday.
“He needs to be there for at least two weeks, to be observed and under care. They’ll see after two weeks if they’re going to discharge him and send him back to Sault Area Hospital, or he might have to stay in hospital in Toronto for longer.”
Ataee said doctors in Toronto are giving Nabizada medications to control pain and seizures.
His recovery is expected to take four to six months.
Ataee met Nabizada, his wife Shukria and daughter Munaza as a volunteer who assists newcomers adjust to life in Canada through services offered at Sault Community Career Centre.
Nabizada, a bricklayer in his mid-40s, has lived in Canada for eight months and is learning English through the Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) program.
“He’s a good man trying to adjust and build a life for himself and his wife and daughter in Canada,” Ataee said.
Ataee has established a GoFundMe page with a $9,000 goal to cover living expenses for Nabizada’s wife and daughter as he recovers.
“I’m trying to raise whatever is possible,” Ataee said.
“That would give him six or seven months to recover. He could go to school and learn some more English to better adjust to life and get a job in Canada.
“His family will need money for rent, groceries and transportation because he doesn’t drive in Canada yet and he will need to take taxis to see the doctor while he recovers.”
Ataee, profiled by SooToday in 2023, now works as a paramedic in the Sault.
He said Nabizada’s story is troubling to him.
As a paramedic he’s usually able to help patients on the spot but all he can do in Nabizada’s case is speak to him on the phone and hope for his recovery from afar.
“When Ewaz was younger he was injured in Afghanistan. He left that situation . . . in hope of starting a new life,” Ataee said.
“Suddenly out of nowhere he had this brain aneurysm. He’s in a new country, in a new home, and something terrible happens. There’s so much pressure on the family.”