Mother-son Duo Share Glenrose Courage Award After Rebuilding Life In Edmonton

When Jamal Dahir heads to nan gym, goes for a swim, aliases picks up a paintbrush today, it’s much than conscionable a hobby — it’s a powerful connection of resilience.

After surviving a devastating, traumatic encephalon wounded successful 2023, Jamal has defied nan likelihood pinch relentless determination and unwavering support from nan 1 personification who ne'er near his side: his mother, Judy Haughton.

The brace are being honoured for their resilience pinch a 2025 Glenrose Courage Award.

The Courage Awards are nan Glenrose Hospital Foundation’s yearly ceremony of patients and caregivers astatine nan hospital. Winners are nominated by Glenrose unit for their determination, positivity and expertise to persevere.

For Jamal, nan grant is simply a awesome of really acold he’s come.

“When I deliberation astir nan Courage Award, I deliberation astir my mom, my friends, my family. I deliberation astir what I went done and really my mother pushed maine done a batch of things,” Dahir shared.

In 2023, Dahir moved from B.C. to Alberta. He was astatine a statement precocious 1 nighttime but ne'er made it home. Police recovered him suffering from a traumatic encephalon injury. Doctors told his mom he wouldn’t survive.

“I ne'er believed that 1 time that he wasn’t going to make it,” Judith Haughton, Jamal’s mother, told Global News.

After extended surgeries and betterment astatine an Edmonton hospital, Judith said she had to advocator for her boy to beryllium accepted into a programme astatine nan Glenrose, because primitively location was interest he wouldn’t use from nan attraction they provide.

With nan thief of nan unit astatine nan Glenrose, Dahir has gone from utilizing a wheelchair, to a walker, to now stepping independently and playing his favourite sports, and swimming.

“After he did his first lane, nan absolute grin connected his look returning backmost to thing he wholly loved was conscionable amazing,” recreation therapist Kennedy Bowman said. “

He said, ‘Kennedy, I want to cleanable my beforehand stroke, I want do my backstroke, let’s believe again!’ And he practiced again and again.”

Dahir still struggles pinch his speech.

“I person aphasia,” he explains erstwhile speaking to people. “Sometimes I person problem getting nan words out.”

That self-advocacy, according to speech-language pathologist Alicia Duncan, is 1 of nan astir courageous steps he’s taken.

“If we deliberation astir courageousness being spot successful nan look of symptom aliases condolences aliases thing difficult, Jamel exemplifies that,” Duncan said.

“He conscionable ever had this determination to conscionable get better,” Bowman told Global News. “He wouldn’t person been capable to do it without his mom, Judy. She’s nan stone successful his life.”

That’s why nan brace will stock nan award. Haughton has been travelling betwixt B.C. and Alberta complete nan past 2 years to return attraction of her son.

“There was ne'er a ‘not’ to thief him,” she said.

Haughton has worked successful health-care successful B.C. for much than 2 decades and credits her heavy knowledge of nan strategy for allowing her to navigate aesculapian bureaucracy, situation dismissive opinions, and guarantee her boy sewage each opportunity to recover.

“Jamal deserves this much than I do,” Haughton laughed. “I want to opportunity this was courageous what I’m doing, but he demonstrated a batch of courageousness to propulsion done this.”

The brace knows they still person a agelong measurement to spell successful recovery.

“They’ve travel a agelong way, their travel was not easy. It was very hard, it was agelong and it’s still a travel for them,” Bowman said.

Dahir promises that arsenic he faces his adjacent challenges, he’ll proceed to activity arsenic difficult arsenic he can.

“I’ll proceed to believe to get amended each and each day,” he said.

Jamal Dahir and Judith Haughton will beryllium honoured pinch their grant astatine a ceremony connected Nov. 4.