'It's so sad, heartbreaking': Nurse paralyzed after Toronto van attack dies

TORONTO -

The keening and wailing of mourners resounded through a west-end neighbourhood Thursday afternoon, as Amaresh Tesfamariam’s casket was carried into a waiting hearse.

“It’s so sad, heartbreaking. Three years of suffering and this is the end,” said a weeping Hezba Mijaf, a long-time friend of the deceased.

Hundreds attended the funeral for the Toronto nurse, who was paralyzed from the neck down during Alek Minassian’s deadly rampage along Yonge Street in April 2018.

“Her life was tragically stolen and drawn out. Really, it was a three-year death, which is, I think, far worse in some ways to have to endure that,” said Lily Cheng, co-founder of the community group named We Love Willowdale.

Sabel Woldeselassie says her best friend was en route to her job at Fudger House, a long-term care home in downtown Toronto, when she was struck down.

“For what, for what?” she cried tearfully, outside the Medhaine Alem Eritrean Orthodox Church at Dufferin and Eglinton.

And while she is heartbroken, today Woldeselassie said she also feels relief.

“Because it was not living. It was existing. For three years and six months and seven days. It was like existing.”

Thronged by family, Tesfamariam’s niece also described the hardships her aunt faced, saying the formerly vivacious and hard-working nurse was never able to leave the hospital after her accident.

“She would talk with the assistance of … technology that was provided for her to help through the ventilator, but wouldn’t be able to talk without that.”

And yet, Luwam Ogbaselassie says — her aunt never wavered in her faith.

“She never cried, never asked for anything. She used to tell the doctors, ‘I’m so rich.’ And they’d say, ‘Oh you’re rich?’ And she’d say, ‘Well, look, I have all this family around me, I’m so rich.’”

The 65-year-old is described as the matriarch of her family, one of 10 siblings, all of whom are mourning her passing.

“I feel like the’s my mom, sister and a friend, especially now, good friends, so I miss that all the time,” said sister Azeb Tesfamariam.

Despite their pain, however, family members say they’re trying to follow Tesfamariam’s example, and are reminding themselves to be kind, patient, and — above all — grateful.

“We know some people died immediately, but we’ve had the chance, at least, to spend the last three-and-a-half years with her, by her side,” said brother Belay Tesfamariam. “We had a chance to say good-bye to her.”

After her funeral in Toronto, family says Tesfamariam’s remains will be flown to Eritrea, where mourners overseas will hold another memorial before her burial.