{"id":142592,"date":"2017-12-28T03:48:38","date_gmt":"2017-12-28T08:48:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=142592"},"modified":"2017-12-28T03:48:38","modified_gmt":"2017-12-28T08:48:38","slug":"group-raises-money-to-fund-new-home-for-survivor-of-quebec-city-mosque-shooting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/12\/28\/group-raises-money-to-fund-new-home-for-survivor-of-quebec-city-mosque-shooting\/","title":{"rendered":"Group raises money to fund new home for survivor of Quebec City mosque shooting"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>
A vigil in Montreal’s Park Extension to show sympathy to the victims of the shooting in Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City. (Photo By Great11 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MONTREAL — A fundraiser to find a new home for a man who lost use of his legs in the Quebec City mosque shooting earlier this year has reached almost half its goal.<\/p>\n

Aymen Derbali, a father of three, was one of the more than 50 people inside the mosque when a shooter opened fire last Jan. 29, killing six.<\/p>\n

He took seven bullets and was paralyzed from the waist down.<\/p>\n

The objective is to raise the $400,000 before the first anniversary of the shooting.<\/p>\n

Derbali, 41, told The Canadian Press on Wednesday that he was touched when he learned about the fundraising campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m very glad to hear that a lot of Canadians, Americans and some people all around the world are aware of my situation,\u201d he said in a phone interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is heart-warming for me and it helps me in my rehabilitation and psychologically … (and) it gives me a smile again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Derbali has been undergoing therapy at a rehabilitation centre since the shooting, but will soon be discharged.<\/p>\n

But doctors have urged him not to return to his fourth-floor apartment because he has limited mobility.<\/p>\n

He’s now looking for a new home closer to the mosque.<\/p>\n

Amira Elghawaby, a volunteer with DawaNet, a Canadian-Muslim non-profit organization that has been raising money for his new home, said that it has been a slow recovery for Derbali, who is now in a motorized wheelchair.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe does have some movement in his arms, but he will unfortunately never walk again,\u201d Elghawaby said. \u201cHe is fully paralyzed pretty much from the chest down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Derbali still has two bullets lodged in his spine.<\/p>\n

He said Wednesday that he has started to use part of his fingers again and has begun eating with his right hand.<\/p>\n

The fundraising to pay for his new residence began ten days ago and Elghawaby said the response has been overwhelming.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a story that has deeply resonated with Canadians and we all remember the terrible news of the massacre on Jan. 29,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Elghawaby added that Derbali still wants to live close to the mosque.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite all he’s been through and the memories he must have, Aymen is still very much attached to that mosque and the community,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe goes now every Friday for the Friday prayers in his wheelchair.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elghawaby said one of the 50 homes that have been looked at is a strong possibility, but doctors will decide if it’s suitable.<\/p>\n

It was previously owned by someone with a disability, so it has widened doorways and no steps on the ground floor.<\/p>\n

Elghawaby said the residence is close enough to the mosque to allow Derbali and his family to get there easily.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MONTREAL — A fundraiser to find a new home for a man who lost use of his legs in the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":142595,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[40953,40952,40954,40955,23380,4088],"class_list":["post-142592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","tag-amira-elghawaby","tag-aymen-derbali","tag-dawanet","tag-elghawaby","tag-mosque","tag-quebec","mauthors-peter-rakobowchuk","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}