Nicolas Haddad drew strength from his faith to succeed in work and school
By Agnieszka Krawczynski

Teens at St. George’s Melkite Greek Catholic Mission are getting encouragement and support from a man who knows what it is like to face challenges.

Nicolas Haddad was born in the Middle East without most of one arm and two legs.

“When my mom was pregnant and she went to check on the baby, there was a patient with chicken pox,” in the hospital, he said.

“There’s a high chance in a certain phase of pregnancy the mom will get it, but she won’t have any symptoms and it will affect the baby. This is what happened to me.”

Facing disability

Haddad had several surgeries and spent two years in and out of treatment learning to use prosthetic limbs. He grew up in the United Arab Emirates and in Lebanon, where neighbourhoods were often hard for someone with mobility challenges.

“You don’t have lights to cross the street,” he said. There would be parking for people with disabilities, “but then no wheelchair ramp to get in.”

Haddad drew support early on from his parents, siblings, and a volunteer who visited him two or three times a week during medical treatment when he was 7 years old.

“He said: ‘you should know that you are not the only one that has problems,’ ” Haddad recalled.

“Whatever you want to do,” he was told, “if you want to enjoy your life and get an advantage from the life you came to, you need to try things by yourself. If you want to swim, you need to try. If you want to make a coffee, you need to try it yourself. You should not ask for things to be done for you.”

Haddad took those words to heart. He learned to ride a bike and drive a car with prosthetic limbs.

Struggling with faith

Haddad was raised in a Christian family; his mother was Catholic and his father was Orthodox. Yet, his disability gave him serious doubts about faith.

“As a kid, I didn’t have a choice to be what I am. When I started to have challenges in my life, when I could see obstacles, I felt like I could not handle it anymore. I felt that I could not be a believer anymore,” he said.

Haddad faced a constant stream of difficulties, from small day-to-day tasks to finishing school, finding a girlfriend, or getting a job.

At a university fair in Grade 11, he was drawn to the idea of becoming a doctor but was told he couldn’t apply because he had only one hand. “This was the kind of stuff, the obstacles, that I thought, ‘I can’t handle it.’ I decided not to believe anymore.”

Haddad began to criticize Christianity. Influenced by an atheist friend who considered the Bible nothing more than a nice story with good moral teaching, he began reading Scripture with the same mindset.

It had the opposite effect. “Instead of criticizing it, I found that with the struggles and obstacles, life has meaning. In the challenges, we are stronger,” he said.

“Now, I am a 100 per cent believer.”

Starting youth ministry

Haddad eventually moved to Canada and started a youth ministry at St. George’s Melkite Greek, based out of St. Francis de Sales Parish in Burnaby, three years ago. In weekly Bible studies, he now defends Christianity.

“I just tell them: ‘Whatever values you think the government or schools are teaching you, were given to us 2,000 years ago,” he said.

St. George’s pastor Father Edward Ibrahim says the church’s youth group is devoted to Haddad.  “All the youth know him and respect him.”

Building a career

Haddad has also built up a successful career. It began when he took an entry-level job at HSBC in Lebanon, a position that became available when a blind employee left and the company needed to hire someone else with a disability.

His manger and supervisors hesitated to give him difficult tasks, assuming he wouldn’t be able to accomplish them. “Every time, I had to prove that I can do it,” he said.

He moved to Canada and transferred to a local HSBC branch. After much hard work, he showed his employers and co-workers the benefits he brought them.

His manager once noted that Haddad was succeeding because he calculated the risks of falling with every step he took. “If he is able to do that, if he is able to finish school, if he is able to finish his Masters, he overcame so many risks. This means he has certain skills that we can take advantage of in our company to protect it, to calculate the risks. He will be the best person to calculate the risks.”

Haddad’s perspective has brought him success in the financial world, where he now works in business consulting and analytics.

“I’m grateful that in meetings in the bank, on the senior level, in decision-making, they are always keen to have my opinion on any big decisions because they know I will see it from a different perspective,” he said.

“I wouldn’t say that I am grateful that I am a person with disability, but I am grateful that I have a lot of challenges and I was able to overcome them.”