'Such is life': Ukrainian newcomer released from hospital, staying positive after random stabbing
Ukrainian newcomer Ivan Pylypchuck isn't one to hold a grudge - even after literally being stabbed in the back.
Recently released from a lengthy hospital stay after a random attack at an Edmonton bus stop, and in spite of the painful recovery still ahead, Pylypchuck is looking on the bright side.
"I can't be angry. Such is life," he said. "Sometimes it's terrible, but sometimes it's perfect."
The morning of April 13 was the former for Pylypchuck.
Less than two weeks after moving his family to Edmonton to escape the war in Ukraine, he was stabbed by a stranger from behind while waiting for the bus on his way to his new job.
The man who attacked him ran away, leaving a 27-centimetre knife in Pylypchuck's back. Losing blood fast, he clung to the bus stop and called 911.
"I understand if I will lay down and don't tell anything to [911], I will die. So much blood, it's not a joke," he said. "And then I heard the police came, and came ambulance and then I fell down."
The knife pierced through his back into his chest, nicking his heart. The stabbing and resulting infection put Pylypchuck in the ICU for almost a month. He lost part of his lung and he remains on 24-hour IV antibiotics to treat an infection in his heart.
Still, he's not harbouring any bad feelings about the attack or regretting his decision to move his family to Edmonton.
"It happened because of [a] sick person, it's not because of county or city or anything else," Pylypchuck said.
And, he added, the bad experience hasn't been without good on the other side thanks to an outpouring of support from friends, family and strangers.
Since the attack, the family has found and furnished a new home for Pylypchuck to heal in – complete with the gift of a piano for his wife, a piano teacher.
"People who don't know me, who don't met me once, they just came and help," Pylypchuck said. "Yes, it was a terrible thing with me, but it's a perfect, wonderful, marvelous thing with everything else."
A GoFundMe raised more than $127,000 for the family. Unable to work for at least another six months, Pylypchuck said that money will help pay rent and bills while he continues to recover.
Police have not yet arrested or charged anyone for the attack.
With files from CTV News Edmonton's Jeremy Thompson
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.