The 48-year-old man who had just arrived to Edmonton with his family from Ukraine when he was randomly attacked at a bus stop is sharing his story.
Ivan Pylypchuk says he left his hotel at 4:45 a.m. on April 13 to catch a bus to work his construction job. He changes buses in Mill Woods so he got a coffee that day while waiting for the second bus.
“I feel something in my back,” he told Global News on Friday. “I turn around and I see a guy who is surprised that I’m turning around and he ran away… I feel that blood begins to come out everywhere. I sense that it’s not good.”
“All my clothes are in blood and there’s blood around me. I understand I need to do something otherwise I will die,” Pylypchuk said. “I call 911 … and talk to the lady about the situation,” he said. “It’s very bad so I was holding the bus stop until police and emergency services came. After that, I fell down.”
Edmonton police said they responded to an assault call on 38 Avenue near Millbourne Road in the Michaels Park neighbourhood at around 6:15 a.m. April 13.
Pylypchuk remembers a police officer getting to him first and then paramedics putting him on a stretcher.
He was taken to hospital with serious injuries.
“I said: ‘Do what you need to do.’ They opened my chest and took away the knife and part of my lung.”
Pylypchuk said the knife went straight through his body and missed his heart by one millimetre.
He had to stay in the hospital for a month.
Despite everything he’s been through, Pylypchuk still maintains a positive attitude and feels nothing but gratitude for his new home in Canada.
“Such things could happen everywhere. The bad persons could be in any country in the world.”
He said one horrible experience doesn’t eliminate all the positive ones he’s had here.
“In this country I have met just marvelous people — so good, so kind. I can’t explain. That one? It’s nothing. It’s absolutely nothing. Such is life.”
While his wife and daughter were understandably upset by the attack, they also like living in Edmonton and Canada, Pylypchuk said.
“I feel like I am home.”
They’ve also been overwhelmed by the support since the assault.
As of May 26, a GoFundMe account had raised nearly $128,000 for the family.
“Everything is because of people’s help. I am so appreciative. I have no words to explain it,” he said. “It’s very good here. I love everything about Canada. It’s so perfect. The people I met, I can’t help but be positive.”
Pylypchuk said that as of Friday no one has been arrested or charged for the attack but he believes if police can find the suspect, they will.
“I trust police,” he said. “I’m sure that everything will be good.”
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