How a couple’s trip to Canada has led to tragedy — and more than $1 million in medical bills

Pegah Khaki spends each day with her husband.

She bathes and shaves him; she brushes his teeth.

Through his life, Hamid Sarabadani has been what some might call a neat freak. Even now, irresponsive in his hospital bed, his wife knows he would want to look clean and well groomed.

Those aren't her only tasks in her husband's ward at North York General Hospital, where Kakhi knows staff on a first-name basis after the past year of visiting.

As Sarabadani's primary caregiver, she also changes his diapers. She refills his nutrition feed and exercises his limbs to make sure his body doesn't get stiff as he remains in a medically vegetative state.

This wasn't how the semi-retired couple's visit to Canada was supposed to go - stranded in the country not their own, facing medical bills of $1.4 million and climbing, their future in limbo.

Khaki confides she and her two children have done their best to stay strong but have come to reach the point of desperation."

In February 2020, Khaki and Sarabadani travelled from Tehran to see their daughter Sougol, 26, and son Soroosh, 22, who were studying in Montreal as international students - a trip the parents had made yearly since 2017.

But this would turn out to be a pandemic year. As borders closed and flights were cancelled, the couple were unable to return home and forced to extend their stay.

Unsure when global travel would resume, they moved that summer to Toronto, for its large Iranian community and a city they could get around without knowing French.

On May 10, 2021, Khaki made her husband's favourite Fesenjan, a famous Persian stew with walnut and pomegranate. As it passed their regular 6 p.m. dinner time, Sarabadani was nowhere to be seen and hadn't called to alert Khaki he would be late from seeing a friend.

Then their lone Toronto friend's wife called and told Khaki that both their husbands had been involved in a serious car accident at Weston Road and Steeles Avenue, a busy intersection in the northwest corner of the city.

I just froze. I was in shock. I called my brother in Montreal and he told me to take an Uber to the hospital," recalled Khaki, 47, who used to teach children with autism and Down syndrome and volunteered to support Afghan refugees in Iran.

I was dropped off in the middle of nowhere. I was alone and didn't know where the emergency department was. There were guards there because of COVID. I just started crying and screaming."

When she was finally let into the emergency department, staff at Sunnybrook Hospital informed her that Sarabadani was undergoing multiple surgeries but no one was able to tell her how bad his injuries were. It was in the waiting room in the early-morning hours when Khaki saw in the news the mangled wreckage of his husband's tiny Ford Focus.

It was our car. It was unrecognizable," said Khaki, who waited two days before she was allowed to see Sarabadani when his condition had stabilized.

According to Sunnybrook's medical report, Sarabadani suffered a closed head injury with multicompartment intracerebral hemorrhage, rib and pelvic fractures, internal bleeding with two litres of flesh and clotted blood in the peritoneal cavity, tears to his intestines and complete loss of muscle use in lower abdomen, buttocks, legs and feet.

A police witness report stated that shortly before 6 p.m., a dark grey Honda CRV had approached a red light at the intersection at an extremely high speed" and rear-ended Sarabadani's Ford hatchback, which then flipped over another vehicle before landing in the middle of the intersection.

Only earlier this year was Khaki informed that the charge of negligent driving against the Honda CRV driver was dropped because he had experienced an undiagnosed diabetic episode when the accident happened, said the family's injury and insurance lawyer, Marjan Delavar.

Although Khaki and Sarabadani both had coverage of as much as $25,000 under their extended travel insurance plan and as much as $1 million under an auto-insurance policy, Sarabadani's medical bills at Sunnybrook and later at North York General have already reached $1.4 million, and are climbing.

In this case, they did everything right in the sense that even though they were visitors, they had secured travel insurance and were renewing their travel insurance as their visa status was being renewed because of their inability to return to Iran during the pandemic," said Delavar. But never could anyone have envisaged such a devastating accident."

During the pandemic, the Ontario government has had a temporary policy to pay hospitals and physicians for necessary services to uninsured patients, including visitors in the country. However, Delavar said Sarabadani was denied coverage because he was involved in a car accident and covered by an auto insurance policy.

A Canadian ... caused an accident that has effectively ended the life of a robust, healthy, active 56-year-old breadwinner. That person who was initially charged has now not only recovered from the accident, but is going on to live his life fully with the charges completely withdrawn," noted Delavar.

Canada is a wonderful country that doesn't leave anyone behind. And we all have a duty to, at a humanitarian level and at a moral level, do right by this family, a family that is exhausted, financially drained and in a state of desperation."

In November, Khaki submitted a permanent residence application on humanitarian grounds for herself, her husband and their son, hoping the transition of status could help entitle Sarabadani for the medical coverage he needs while the rest of the family can stay, work and care for him in Canada.

(Their daughter, currently on a postgraduate work permit, is already in the process of becoming a permanent resident. Khaki's and her husband's visitor visas have expired and a decision on their request to extend has been pending since March.)

Their immigration lawyer, Pantea Jafari, said the couple had no intention of themselves residing in Canada because they had successful businesses and a comfortable life back home before the accident.

However, Sarabadani won't be able to get the same quality of care in Iran, where international sanctions mean some basic medical supplies are unavailable, she added. He is currently on 22 different medications and requires the care of various specialists. The family was advised that it is not impossible to transport Sarabadani to Iran but there are risks involved during the travel amid a pandemic.

She said the family could have filed an asylum claim to have the man's medical expenses immediately covered, but has chosen not to because they don't see themselves as real refugees, people fleeing persecution. Neither would they agree to online crowdfunding unless every penny in their bank account is exhausted.

In spite of their current plight and hardship, Khaki smiles fondly when she tells the story of how she met her husband at her grandmother's funeral in 1988.

It was love at first sight and Sarabadani would soon come to her family and ask to put a ring on her hand. However, her father insisted on her finishing school first but that did not stop Sarabadani from finding all excuses to come to her house to get a glimpse of her before they finally got married when she graduated from high school at 18.

A graduate in mining engineering from the Technical University of Tehran, a top school in Iran, Sarabadani started working in and later owning a company importing ferroalloys for metallurgy factories before selling the successful business in June 2019.

Everything was good. We had a very comfortable life," mused Khaki, who and her husband have bought two farms to grow kiwi and rice, and had planned to do more travels until they were hit by the mishap in Canada. We never had to worry about money."

Their world has changed dramatically.

My father and mother were supposed to be enjoying their retirement. Who would know this could happen and suddenly your life just falls apart? Everything still feels unreal for us," said Soroosh, their son, who dropped out of a food service management program last year and is sharing the responsibility with his mother to look after Sarabadani.

I hope people can put themselves into our shoes. We still have dignity. We are not looking for sympathy, but empathy."

Immigration officials say they are aware of the family's circumstances. Their application has been in queue for processing since November - and the current processing time takes about 21 months.

This avenue applies to people in exceptional cases who have exhausted all other options. It is a last resort and provides an opportunity for the department to consider compelling humanitarian circumstances on a case-by-case basis," said an immigration spokesperson.

A central part of this process is ensuring that each and every case is evaluated on merit, and receives due process."

Meanwhile, during her visits to the hospital, Khaki plays recordings of the voices of her husband's elderly mother and his two sisters from back home, as well as his favourite Persian music, hoping he might respond with a wink, a smile or a nod.

I know there's no hope for his recovery, but meanwhile, I need to do something to feel good," said Khaki, as she gingerly seated Sarabadani into a chair and gently tugged some pillows around him to stabilize him and make him feel comfortable.

Sometimes, I think I'm doing all of this just for myself. Maybe it seems silly, but I cannot do nothing."

Nicholas Keung is a Toronto-based reporter covering immigration for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @nkeung