Alberta man looking to connect with paramedics who saved his life nearly 30 years ago in Ottawa

Dave Murphy was stabbed outside an Ottawa mall in 1994 and now he wants to connect with the paramedics who saved his life.

“I got into a verbal argument with three guys and it ended up with them coming at me and attacking me. I tried to defend myself. I was starting to walk away, they took off running and I put my hand down and pulled it up and it was covered in blood and then all I remember is waking up in the hospital.”

Murphy was stabbed 13 times, one of the wounds missed his heart by half an inch and he also suffered a punctured lung. He also lost half a muscle in one of his legs due to the injuries.

He says for a number of years he suffered from PTSD from the attack but his mind is in a good place now and he wants to track down the paramedics who came to his aid that night.

“Number one to bring closure to it. I used to be watching TV and a medical show would come on where someone was in an ER and I had to switch the channel right away. You know any police shows, Chicago PD, or anything like that I couldn’t even watch that. My mind is in a good place now so I am ready to move on,” he said.

Murphy says he has tried to track down the paramedics before but has not had much luck.

“I was working with the Ontario Paramedics Association, their Facebook page. I had a retired chief medical officer that was looking through records but I guess there was a purge so all of the paper documents haven’t survived and the ambulance report was nowhere to be found.”

“Now I’m just hoping the right set of eyes will see it or someone will be like ‘hey do you remember this call?’.”

Murphy has since heard from some of the police officers who responded to the scene that night almost 30 years ago and was able to thank them.

I did received to forwarded messages from the @ottawapolice detectives that worked on my case which was amazing. I just want to to hopefully thank them and possibly meet them if they're up to it. pic.twitter.com/ksIUEctfNa

— ????DaveMurNQ???? (@DaveMurYYC) January 20, 2022

Murphy now raises money for Can Praxis, a horse therapy program for veterans and first responders with PTSD.

“As someone who went through that for 20 years, I try and do a lot to help them out. It’s kind of my way of saying thank you and paying it forward to those men and women from all across Canada that need the program. It’s run by veterans and volunteers so it is obviously close to my heart because I wouldn’t be here without them.”