About eight years ago, Mustafa Hasan was stuck in Baghdad traffic when he heard an explosion. A car bomb had gone off somewhere behind him and a swarm of people came running past his car to get away from the burning vehicle. Before he had time to figure out what to do, another car exploded, this one fewer than 10 cars behind him. By now, his friend, the driver, had fled, leaving him sitting trapped, alone and confused in the passenger seat. He couldn't move, and he was dizzy and hurt from where his head had smashed into the windshield after the second blast.
A police officer appeared and yelled at him to get out of the car, but he was stuck. The officer raised his gun, and yelled again, telling the young man to put his hands above his head. Hasan tried to explain that he needed help, but the officer didn't hear him. In vain, Hasan tried to raise his weak arms, but they dropped back into his lap. The officer fired and Hasan ducked. Crouched down and afraid for his life, he vowed he would leave Iraq as soon as he could if somehow he could get out of this mess.
Just a couple of years before, in 2003, the 21-year-old Hasan had been adjusting the antenna on the roof of his family home in al Karada, a suburb of Baghdad, when an American missile struck a police station a block away. The shock wave knocked him to the ground and broke his neck. From that day, he was paralyzed from the neck down.
Born in Iraq in 1981, Hasan experienced his share of tragedy early in life - his father was killed during the Iran-Iraq war when he was 11 months old, and his older sister died in an accident when he was 15 - but his life had otherwise been good, he says.
He loved swimming and playing chess, and he looked forward to a bright future. After becoming paralyzed, however, he lost all hope.
"After my accident, all my dreams collapsed and I couldn't do anything," he says. "I felt that I had become less than zero, . all my dreams become just to walk again."
After he woke up from surgery and found he could not move his arms or legs, Hasan realized he was like an infant again - completely dependent on his family.
"I wanted to die," he says. "I didn't want to be in a wheelchair at all."
After several failed attempts to take his own life, he realized that having been saved by family members who would not let him give up was reason enough to go on living.
"So I left the country," he says. "It's hard to leave, but you have to think, if I (do) not leave, maybe I will get (into) another accident. Maybe I will lose my hand or my leg. That's normal there. Everyday explosions, so many checkpoints, . you cannot have a normal life."
Hasan and his younger half-brother went to Jordan in 2006 and from there applied for refugee status to come to Canada. They arrived in Vancouver in 2009, and a couple of years later the rest of his family - his mother, sisters and nephew - followed, though his stepfather was unable to get refugee status and remains in Jordan.
Hasan says he chose Vancouver because of its relatively mild climate, and soon after arriving he became a permanent resident with a dogged determination to assimilate and contribute to his new community as soon as possible.
"When I come to Canada, I want to go to school and continue in my new life, learning Canadian language, learn the Canadian lifestyle, culture, traditions," he says.
He found an apartment in Burnaby and signed up for English classes, as well as physical therapy at the G. F.
Strong Rehabilitation Centre in Vancouver. Five days a week, he spent his mornings studying and his afternoons working out. A year later, he learned about a new study being done at the Blusson Spinal Cord Research Centre in Vancouver and signed up for that, too, because he figured it was an opportunity he could not pass up.
"(In Iraq) it's not many opportunities to improve your life," he says. "There is no great opportunities, and we don't have organizations like G.F. Strong or like Rick Hansen Institute to support people with spinal cord injuries. People with spinal cord injuries are limited there.
Here you have unlimited opportunities."
The physiotherapy and rehabilitation Hasan received at both centres allowed him to regain the use of his arms, as well as much of the use of his hands. Being able to use a manual wheelchair and regaining his independence, he was then able to try out for wheelchair rugby. He made the cut for the Vancouver team, and soon after the provincial B team.
Playing rugby is something Hasan says has given him a physical challenge and a sense of belonging.
"They are really great guys and helped me a lot and add (to) my life a lot," he says. "We have become friends."
The sport has also given Hasan opportunities to travel. This week, his team is heading to Calgary to play for the national championship. When he is not playing wheelchair rugby or studying, Hasan volunteers part-time at the Blusson Spinal Cord Centre at the information desk.
He is also a participant in cutting-edge research to help advance treatment for spinal cord injuries, which he says he works hard at not just for himself but for others who have been paralyzed and may one day benefit from the advances in knowledge and technology. "It's not just my goals, it's their goals, too," he says. Helping others is something Hasan says he enjoys because he knows what it's like to need support.
Last year he got an on-call job as a life skills facilitator for the Immigrant Services Society of B.C. and discovered a passion for helping newcomers settle into their new country.
"I really enjoy this job because it reminds me of when I first came to Canada, how much help I (needed)," he says. "I enjoy to help others that are newcomers because they really need it. Even I can feel . how much they need help. So, I really like that job."
In recognition of his many achievements, Hasan was recently awarded the B.C. Rehab Gert Vorsteher Memorial Award, presented to people with disabilities who have risen above extreme challenges and become independent.
This year, eight winners were selected from across the province, all of whom received the award worth $5,000 during a presentation last week at the G.F. Strong centre.
Hasan says it was a surprise to him to be nominated for the award.
"When (my social worker) nominated me, I don't think I'm going to deserve it because every year I saw the post and people do so many great jobs (who win the award), so it's really like a dream," he says.
Earlier this month, Hasan was asked to speak at his old ESL school to share with the students his challenges of coming to a new country where he knew nothing of the culture or even the language. "It was my first experience and it was difficult but they say I did a good job," he says of his talk.
Hasan says he is grateful to all the people who have helped him find a home here in Canada, and especially for the opportunities to be of service to others.
"In beginning I just had dream just to help myself," he says. "Now I could help others. Imagine. They make me even forget my disability. I do not feel now I am really disabled. I can do more than people with able (bodies)."
Hasan says he looks forward to helping more immigrants adjust to life in Canada and to helping others with disabilities to rise above their limitations and see the possibilities in their lives. His advice?
"Just challenge your ability," he says. "Just challenge your life, and you will deserve it. I still want to walk again, but if it's not possible you have just to keep working and never give up."
