Nothing can keep volunteer down
Mustafa (left) and the BC B wheelchair rugby team.
Ten years ago, Mustafa Hasan was on the roof his Baghdad home, adjusting the antenna to watch the evening news when a U.S. missile flew past his house, destroying a police station about a block away.
The shock wave from the blast was so strong that it threw him off of his two-story home, breaking his neck; Mustafa, who was 21 years old at the time, was paralyzed from the neck down.
“It was very close,” he explains. “My life was in danger there. I almost got killed there.”
After several more close calls including a car bomb blast, Mustafa escaped the war in 2006 by moving to Jordan and eventually moving to B.C. in 2009. He settled in Burnaby and signed up for physical therapy at G.F. Strong Rehabilitation Centre where he got back the use of his arms and his hands. Grateful for this, Mustafa became more involved by taking part in studies on spinal cord research and is now an active volunteer at the centre.
“I want to help with the research to help people like me,” he says. “I feel thankful and want to give back because they helped me.”
Mustafa with his Gert Vorsteher Memorial Award.
Mustafa was one of people who were recognized last week with the B.C. Rehab Gert Vorsteher Memorial Award, worth $5,000.
“I feel honoured to get this award,” he says humbly. “It will help push me forward to do more – it’s nice to be recognized.”
“Positive energy”
Alison Stewart, a vocational rehabilitation counselor who works with Mustafa, was one of the people who nominated him for the award. It’s obvious she has a lot of admiration for him.
“Mustafa has remarkable motivation and determination, and a lovely way of showing it,” she says. “He’s a very respectful, gracious and humble individual who never hesitates to thank G.F. Strong staff for any assistance he might receive. Mustafa’s positive energy in the face of many odds is a good reminder that we could not do effective rehab work without the client leading the way. In this way, we all benefit from Mustafa’s active participation towards his ongoing rehabilitation goals – not to mention the pleasure of seeing him smile.”
Mustafa volunteers at the Blusson Spinal Cord Centre where he’s an facility guide and reliable source of spinal-research related information for visitors – Mustafa continues to take part in research studies at G.F. Strong.
“I enjoy helping others,” says Mustafa who is now 31 years old. “Others have helped me so it’s my pleasure to help them and the centre.”
Mustafa has started a new life in Canada despite his disability. When he’s not helping out at Blusson Centre, Mustafa is practicing with the provincial wheelchair rugby team (at the time of the interview, the team was two days about from playing in the 2013 Canadian Wheelchair Rugby Championships at Mount Royal University in Calgary). He’s also a life skills facilitator with the Immigrant Services Society of B.C.
Mustafa credits the staff at G.F. Strong for helping him to start a new life.
“The people at G.F. Strong, they helped me a lot,” he says. “The helped me discover myself and discover new resources that I can use.”