Teen crash survivor to meet WWE’s John Cena at Saudi Royal Rumble
March 8, 2013 started out like so many other Fridays in the Alabbadi household. Hamza, 8, went to meet his friends in Abu Dhabi, as usual.
Except this time, he did not come home.
As he was crossing a car park near Capital Garden, Hamza was run over by a car.
He was left with a traumatic brain injury as a result and spent 45 days in a coma in intensive care at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, where he stayed for nine months.
In the early days after the accident, a doctor told Mutaz Alabbadi that his son would never recover.
It took Hamza three months to be able to communicate after he awoke and he was completely paralysed on his right side.
He later suffered a serious allergic reaction to anaesthetics during an operation, which caused his heart to fail and his lungs to fill with fluid.
Yet five years later, Hamza can walk with assistance and talk, although he is still working on clear speech.
His father is confident that he will continue to recover.
“He is a fighter. Hamza has always been a fighter,” said Mr Alabbadi, 47, whose family is from Sudan.
So it seems appropriate that in Saudi Arabia on Saturday he will meet one of his heroes, the wrestler and motivator John Cena, as part of a gift from Make a Wish UAE.
Cena will be in the kingdom for WWE’s Greatest Royal Rumble event.
“His first wish is to meet John Cena,” Mr Alabbadi said. “He developed strength in the left side more than the right side, especially in the hand, so he wants to arm wrestle him.
“Hamza’s second wish was to go for Umrah. So when they said John Cena is coming to Saudi Arabia, he could get both wishes at the same time.”
Hani Al Zubaidi, chief executive of Make a Wish UAE, said Hamza’s case was especially poignant because it will be the 3,000th wish granted by the chapter since it was founded in 2003, and will coincide with World Wish Day on April 29.
He has also been waiting for a couple of years for the wish to be fulfilled.
“When we do international wishes, we go through the international portal. He was No27, I think,” said Melanie Raymer, marketing and communications manager at Make a Wish UAE.
“John Cena is a Make a Wish ambassador and he has granted more than 500 wishes worldwide, so he is a big supporter. When we knew John Cena was coming to Saudi, we arranged it.”
Ms Raymer said the wish also tied in nicely with the foundation’s global Arm Wrestle Challenge.
“We are challenging the community to do an arm wrestle. So you can challenge anyone – your friend, your colleague, your boss, celebrities,” she said. “It’s to show that it takes muscle in the form of community support. So we have asked people to take a video or a photo, upload it on to social media and hashtag us.”
Hamza developed strength in the left side more than the right, especially in the hand, so he wants to arm wrestle John Cena MUTAZ ALABBADI Father