The mother of one of the Christchurch Mosque shooting victims has died of a heart attack after attending her son’s funeral, according to a new report.
Saud Abdelfattah Mhaisen Adwan, 65, died of a heart attack on March 23, an official from the Sydney-based Jordanian Embassy said, reported NZHerald.
Her son, Kamel Darwish, 38, was killed in the Al Noor mosque. He was a dairy farm worker and the father of three young children. He had moved to New Zealand from Jordan a year ago to join his older brother. His wife and three children applied for visas to come join him.
Tragedy upon tragedy: the mother of the one of the Christchurch mosque victims died of a heart attack when she came to New Zealand to attend his funeral. https://t.co/MQn6QENEvu
— Anna Fifield (@annafifield) March 23, 2019
A family friend told the outlet that Darwish’s mother traveled from Jordan to New Zealand to attend her son’s funeral.
“She came yesterday to attend the funeral. Apparently this morning she passed away because she couldn’t put up with the sorrow and sadness of losing her son,” the family friend told the NZHerald.
He said Darwish’s family “are arranging to take the coffin back to Jordan.”
Darwish’s mother wasn’t the only one to have suffered a heart attack after learning about the tragedy.
Call to prayer in Christchurch, outside the Al Noor mosque pic.twitter.com/NwOrs9Isvi
— Martin Fricker (@martinfricker) March 22, 2019
Mohammed Mashud’s wife, Sazada Akhter was shot twice by a gunman at the Masjid Al Noor mosque, according to Stuff.co.nz.
He told the outlet that his mother-in-law suffered a heart attack after learning about what happened to her daughter and ended up hospitalized in Bangladesh as a result.
“What can I do?” he said. “I can’t do anything.”
He has not left his wife’s side at the Christchurch Hospital.
His 25-year-old wife is one of the more gravely-injured victims from the mosque attacks. She was shot in the abdomen and chest as she was fleeing the mosque, Mashud told the outlet. She has undergone surgery three times since Saturday, he added.
Mother of Christchurch mosque victim suffered a heart attack when she heard the news https://t.co/qkBgGLXAmc pic.twitter.com/n8ir1iz24T
— Stuff (@NZStuff) March 20, 2019
While he sees that other victims are slowly recovering, his wife still needs more surgery, the doctors told him.
“Other people I see, injured people, they’re moving, talking. They open their eyes. But my wife doesn’t open her eyes,” he said. “No talking. There’s nothing.”
He said the doctors said his wife suffered “a terrible injury and would take a long time [to recover]. [She has a] damaged stomach and liver. The doctors say everything is a mess.”
The two moved to New Zealand six years ago, but most of their families still live in Bangladesh he said. Mashud works at the Christchurch Steel and has no plans to return to Bangladesh.
“There’s lots of helping in New Zealand. Everybody’s helping. The country’s helping,” he said.
Hundreds of people locked arms, forming a human chain around a mosque in Wellington, New Zealand, symbolically shielding Muslims during Friday prayers, one week after 50 people were killed in Christchurch terror attack. https://t.co/pEY7pzN2sC pic.twitter.com/g22Zb7g1FV
— ABC News (@ABC) March 22, 2019
Another family that suffered tragedy was 61-year-old Mohsin Al-Harbi and his wife Manal. Al-Harbi, who came from Saudi Arabia, survived the initial attack at the mosque only to die in the hospital, according to the NZHerald.
His wife was so distressed as she searched for him that she suffered a heart attack, collapsed, and was taken to a hospital in critical condition.
“My heart is racing, it’s something unbelievable, I can barely describe it,” Omar, 32 from Sydney (left) told me. “To see the community all so close together it’s amazing.”
Of course, it shouldn’t take a tragedy to unite people — but that is what has happened here pic.twitter.com/ULAZ8tDoFb
— Jerome Taylor (@JeromeTaylor) March 20, 2019
Heart Attack
The most common cause of a heart attack occurs when one or more of a body’s coronary arteries becomes blocked. Coronary arteries can narrow over time due to the buildup of various substances, including cholesterol, according to Mayoclinic.com.
However, for the instances above, it seems they suffered from a different kind called takotsubo cardiomyopathy, or heart attack resulting from stress. The heart attack is believed to be caused by sudden emotional stress, such as the death of a child, according to Harvard Health. The name derives from a Japanese pot used to trap octopus, as the heart takes on a distinctive shape that’s similar.
