Dubai: UAE-based Adeeb Sami who sustained a gunshot wound during Friday’s terror attack underwent another surgery on Saturday, her daughter Heba, 30, told Gulf News, hours before flying out to New Zealand from Dubai.
“The bullet narrowly missed dad’s spine but it ruptured his small intestine so they had to do a second surgery. I am told it went well but I still can’t stop myself from worrying about my dad so I am flying to New Zealand. I just want to sit by my dad’s bedside and hold his hand,” said Heba, who was booked to fly out on Sunday morning.
“I am undergoing a traumatic experience and the long distance between us is making it worse. My mum and all my siblings are with my dad who will remain in hospital for another few days. This is a family crisis and I have to be with my folks during these testing times. My dad’s company is arranging the ticket. My husband and son will join me a few days later,” said Heba, part owner of a design company in Dubai.
She said just before Friday prayers, her father took her sister Hamsa out for a coffee and shared the picture of the two of them together.
Heba also shared pictures of her son Yaseen with her grandfather. “Yaseen loves him very much. He said ‘jedo’ (grandpa) before he could even say ‘daddy’. I can’t wait for all of us to be together,” Heba added.
I am undergoing a traumatic experience and the long distance between us is making it worse. My mum and all my siblings are with my dad who will remain in hospital for another few days. This is a family crisis and I have to be with my folks during these testing times. My dad’s company is arranging the ticket. My husband and son will join me a few days later.
A New Zealand national of Iraqi descent, Adeeb Sami, 52, was hit in the back while trying to protect his two sons from the gunman who stormed the Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, on Friday, firing blindly at worshippers gathered for the afternoon prayers.
By the time the shooting stopped, 41 lay dead, including five of Sami’s close friends. An attack at another mosque killed seven more, leaving New Zealand reeling in the aftermath of its deadliest mass shooting in years.
Sami, a resident of Al Ain and a director at UAE-based engineering company Aecom flew to New Zealand with wife Sana Al Habar on Thursday to surprise their twin children in time for their 23rd birthday.
He was in the mosque with his sons Abdullah, 29, and Ali, 23, when the terror attack took place.
Sami’s colleagues at Aecom said they are praying for his quick recovery.
“Hope he recovers fast and is back in the Al Ain office soon,” Nandakumar Gopinathan who has worked with Sami for over 22 years, said in a Facebook post.
