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<\/p>\nAfter scoliosis surgery, a perforated ulcer sent 16-year-old Montrealer Karim Ahmed-Belizer into septic shock and multi-organ failure. Four months in hospital didn\u2019t stop him from studying, captaining his robotics team, and graduating on time.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, I live through the effects every day, but it\u2019s not something that I define myself. I\u2019m usually thinking about what can I do in the future? What\u2019s happening now? Then, well, all this happened in the past, or I was through a septic shock, and that\u2019s woe is me,\u201d said Ahmed-Belizer.<\/p>\n
Iram Ahmed, Karim\u2019s mother said, \u201cIt was excessively hard because this is a young man. He\u2019s 17, 16 years old at that time. You see him at a certain level. He was functioning well. And to have to hold his hand to help him to walk, to bathe, to eat, it was as though he was an infant again.<\/p>\n
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Karim Ahmed-Belizaire lies in a hospital bed after recovering from septic shock (Submitted by: Iram Ahmed)<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a mother, I can say that I\u2019m excessively proud of Karim. because it takes such a huge amount of courage and resiliency to go through what he went through where he almost died. He had to relearn everything, maybe basic needs, how to satisfy them as going to the bathroom, eating, walking, and then deciding I\u2019m still going to go back to school and finish my studies because all these special people came to visit me. Namely community members, WIBCA (West Island Black Community Association) members, mentors, people you didn\u2019t really think would show up, but they did and gave him hope and it encouraged him to go back to school and then complete his studies. Now he wants to pursue (a career) also in the same field. It talks volumes when a community holds you up and just is accompanying you through something so difficult. That\u2019s what I would say that he grew. We grew by realizing that we are part of something bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n
Karim is a talented STEM student whose passion for robotics and technology has already led to impressive accomplishments. As captain of the WIPCA robotics team, he helped lead his team from near the bottom of the standings to a semi-final finish in the Canadian robotics competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cKarim did the WIBCA interview for the scholarship. And they asked him, well, what happened during these months? And what happened to your grades? He\u2019s like, oh, I just was in the hospital because of a septic shock. He minimized it. He still does it. He\u2019s like, it\u2019s not a big deal, mom. I have to move forward. I can\u2019t ever use this as a reason to not do what I have to do. So he wants to take accountability. But that\u2019s his strength of character,\u201d said Ahmed.<\/p>\n
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Karim Ahmed-Belizaire poses in a hospital bed (Submitted by Iram Ahmed)<\/p>\n
As for what it is about robotics that resonates with Ahmed-Belizer, he says, \u201cIt helps more with teamwork, how to lead, how to think, how to organize yourself.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo one of the main reasons that I wanted to do robotics, it\u2019s pushing me to become a software engineer at some point. So I\u2019m using that as a little stepping stone. But yeah, it\u2019s something that I thought at first was just for fun, but I deeply got invested into it. So even when I got, even when I was like injured, I was still like thinking, can I do robotics anyways? Maybe.\u201d<\/p>\n
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