An Edmonton man who saved people from an apartment fire is now struggling to save his business.
Riza Kasikcioglu is the owner of Maximo’s Pizza and Donair on Jasper Avenue who recently put the business up for sale due to health and financial problems.
Kasikcioglu is also the man who rushed into a burning apartment building in January of 2017 to save the people inside. Kasikcioglu carried a woman in a wheelchair down seven flights of stairs, an act that stemmed a series of back problems that he says will be operated on next year.
After the fire he was also diagnosed with a benign tumor in his brain.
He underwent surgery to have the tumor removed which affected his mobility and cognitive skills and also caused him to easily lose his balance.
Kasikcioglu temporarily closed his shop to focus on recovering from surgery, but was forced to re-open early in January due to financial problems as Maximo's Pizza was his only source of income.
People in the local Turkish community rallied behind him volunteering their time to give his store a makeover as a last-ditch effort to help him save it.
“I’m surviving because of some nice Canadians and some nice Turkish people”, Kasikcioglu said.
Eventually the long hours on his feet proved to be too much and Kasikcioglu put his business up for sale saying he hopes to sell it and find another job soon.
With files from Angela Jung
