'It’s a miracle': Uncle of Brown student shot in Vermont talks about rehab, resilience

With three weeks now passed since the terrible shooting of three Palestinian college students in Burlington, Vermont, I reached out to Rich Price to ask about his nephew, Hisham Awartani.

Hisham, a 20-year-old Brown University junior, was the most grievously wounded, leaving him paralyzed from the chest down.

Rich, 47, told me Hisham was recently moved from the UVM Medical Center to a spinal rehabilitation facility in Massachusetts, not far from Rhode Island. The family is keeping the name of the facility confidential so there can be privacy around Hisham’s recovery. But Rich said it was chosen in part so Hisham could be near his beloved school, with many Brown classmates having already visited him.

“He’s eager to get back to his studies,” said Rich. “He’s having conversations with Brown, and his plan is to get back next semester.”

Hisham and two friends were shot around 6:30 p.m. the Saturday after Thanksgiving while walking near the home of his Uncle Rich, where they had spent the holiday.

The horrific shooting made global news, and although police have yet to declare a motive, Rich Price has no doubt it was because the boys were wearing black and white keffiyeh scarves and speaking a mix of Arabic and English. The bullet that struck Hisham lodged in his second thoracic vertebra, a few inches below the neck.

Rich reports that Hisham has shown remarkable resilience.

“He’s really thrown himself into the work of his recovery,” said Rich. “He’s engaged, asking questions and advocating on behalf of himself.”

Although there is hope for improvement, Rich says the prognosis remains difficult.

“But there are two components to a recovery like this,” he told me. “One is medical, and the second is mindset and spirit and attitude. And Hisham is bringing his best self to that challenge.”

The three students – Hisham, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Ahmad, all age 20 – were childhood pals who’d gone to the Ramallah Friends School together on the West Bank and were thrilled to be accepted at American colleges. Kinnan is at Haverford outside Philadelphia and Tahseen at Trinity in Hartford.

Their parents felt that with tensions from the Gaza war, and increased settler violence against Palestinians on the West Bank, it was safer for the boys to stay in America for the holiday instead of coming home.

They chose to spend the week with Hisham’s grandmother and his Uncle Rich, who live in side-by-side houses in Burlington. Hisham had spent summers there and considers the city a second home.

Rich Price, an accomplished musician once based in L.A., moved to Vermont 15 years ago with his wife, Kimberly, a designer, and began a career in marketing because, with five young sons, that was better for a family than a life on the road. He picked Burlington, in part, because he’d graduated from nearby Middlebury College and loved the area.

I asked Rich about the first moment he saw his nephew after the shooting.

Soon after the paramedics arrived, Hisham was able to call his grandmother. She and Rich rushed together to the hospital, just blocks from where they live. They were taken to the ER. It was a busy moment, with Hisham tended to by trauma nurses, doctors and neurologists. As Rich arrived, they explained the situation to him.

“The bullet had gone through Hisham’s left thumb and through his clavicle, and lodged in his spine,” Rich told me.

Despite all that, Hisham seemed collected.

“Hi, Uncle Richard,” he said.

“Hisham,” said Rich, “I am so sorry this happened to you.”

Rich was devastated but impressed by how composed his nephew appeared.

“Hisham has a remarkable unflappable way about him,” he told me.

Rich would soon learn that the alleged gunman lived nearby and had likely seen the three young men on walks the previous two nights.

“He shot them from 6 feet away,” said Rich. “The fact that Hisham and his friends are still alive, frankly, it’s a miracle.”

Rich feels the incident shows the danger of Islamophobic rhetoric that paints all Palestinians as extremists.

"I think it’s a reflection of the level of vitriol and hate that exists in this country," Rich says in a matter-of-fact tone.

Talking to Rich makes you realize that Hisham is part of a remarkable family with American roots and global ties. Hisham himself has triple citizenship – U.S., Palestinian and Irish.

His mom, Elizabeth Price, Rich’s older sister, was born in Dublin. Their dad was an international banker with many postings – Rich was born in Nigeria and his brother, Kent, in Germany, and they grew up around the world, including stints in Hong Kong, England and Africa’s Ivory Coast.

Rich, a guitarist, songwriter and performer, had contracts with both RCA and Geffen records with his folk-rock band, The Sweet Remains, which opened for notable artists including Ziggy Marley and Ray LaMontagne. But being a dad became more important.

“I love touring, but I love being with my family more,” he said.

Rich’s sister Elizabeth, a consultant for nonprofits, married a Palestinian named Ali Awartani, who works in agriculture in Ramallah, and they chose to settle there. Hisham is the oldest of their three kids. His brother, 13, and sister, 17, are also at the Friends School, a Quaker institution.

Of course, Rich has been to Ramallah to visit. I asked him what life is like there.

“It’s an interesting place of stark dichotomy,” he told me. “On the one hand, it’s a really loving community, a place of warmth and safety in the sense no one locks their doors – very communal. But it’s also a place where people are living under military occupation.”

Rich describes the situation there with studious calm, devoid of stridency.

“What is difficult for most Americans to visualize about Palestine,” he said, “is there really is no autonomous state there. It’s completely controlled by Israel. Even the Palestinian Authority, which is the government in the West Bank, is very much beholden and controlled by Israel.”

Driving around the West Bank, he said, involves going through many Israeli military checkpoints.

And there is the matter of Jewish settlements.

“The proliferation of illegal settlements,” Rich said, “I think would be shocking to most Americans. The slow annexation of the West Bank territory that was once envisioned to be part of a future state of Palestine has become like Swiss cheese – just holes in that land.”

Palestinian territory has become so encroached upon that Rich says many there are losing hope of a two-state solution.

But despite that, his sister Elizabeth’s family still embraces living there, finding it a beautiful culture and Ramallah a sophisticated city.

“Palestine,” said Rich, “has one of the highest percentages of Ph.D.s. They say there that education is an act of resistance.”

His nephew Hisham reflects that.

“He’s deeply committed to his studies,” said Rich. Impressively, Hisham speaks seven languages including English, Arabic, German and Italian.

At Brown, he’s a dual major – math and archeology.

“And he’s very kind,” Rich said, “quite thoughtful. A good cousin to my boys.”

The night of the shooting reflects that. Rich’s twin 8-year-olds were having a birthday party at a bowling alley, which you’d think college students wouldn’t bother with. But Hisham and his two friends wanted to support his young cousins.

So they went, got home around 6:15 p.m., and then went for a walk at 6:30 p.m. Not long after that, Rich’s mom got the call from Hisham.

“Granny,” he said, “I’ve been shot.”

The war has made travel from Israel difficult, and Hisham’s parents weren’t able to make it to Burlington for four days. During that time, Rich and his mom took turns sitting vigil at Hisham’s bedside in the hospital ICU, sometimes past 3 a.m., with equipment beeping and nurses coming in and out to check vitals.

Hisham was in an area next to his two friends, who were being treated, too. Rich was there for many poignant moments as the three young men, fighting both pain and the trauma of what had happened, got each other through.

At one point, one of the three said to the others: “I just want to ask the guy, ‘Why?’”

A man named Jason Eaton, 48, was arrested and faces three charges of attempted murder. News reports have quoted his mother as saying he had life struggles. He’d recently moved to Burlington from Syracuse, New York. His past jobs, often short-term, included farm manager, driver and maintenance person.

During the hospital vigils, Rich at times thought back to when all were gathered around the Thanksgiving table days before, like many millions of other Americans, talking about what they were thankful for. When it was Hisham’s turn, he smiled and said, “Pumpkin pie with vanilla ice cream.”

More than once, when Rich was back home from the hospital, the anguish about his nephew left him briefly sobbing, something his wife hadn’t seen him do in 18 years of marriage.

“It’s devastating to see someone who was working so hard to build a meaningful, bright future have this setback,” he told me.

But ironically, it was Hisham’s grace, even after being told he would likely be a paraplegic, that comforted Rich.

“He was approaching this challenge with a level of bravery I don’t think I could have mustered at age 20,” Rich said.

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Rich feels it comes both from Hisham’s mature nature, and the life he lived.

“It’s difficult to be a young Palestinian man in this world,” said Rich. “It requires resilience, it requires fortitude – the ability to persevere in the face of great hardships.”

In Hisham’s case, said Rich, there is also a great sense of humor. In a statement read to a gathered vigil for him at Brown on Nov. 27, Hisham wrote, “Who knew that all I had to do to become famous was to get shot?”

But he added more seriously: “Your mind should not just be focused on me as an individual, but rather as a proud member of the people being oppressed.”

Rich says the family learned from the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation that the cost of medical care and adaptive living for a paralyzed person can approach $3 million over a lifetime. So they’ve set up a GoFundMe page, starting with a $2 million goal. Incredibly, it has already passed $1.5 million.

Now that Hisham’s parents are with him at the rehab facility near Rhode Island, Rich has mostly been checking in by phone.

During one call, Hisham told his uncle he’s embarrassed that so much fuss has been made about him, given how many thousands have died in Gaza.

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“He looked at the list of the dead in Gaza,” Rich recalled, “and noticed there were about 30 Hishams – and Hisham is not a super common name in Palestine. And he said, ‘I’m the Hisham people know, but there are at least 30 Hishams people don’t know.”

Hisham’s grace has left Rich, a spiritual person, wondering if there’s a greater plan here.

“It’s rare in this country for Palestinians to be portrayed in humanizing, positive ways,” he says. “The silver lining is the way he and his friends are providing a human face as to what it means to be Palestinians – that they’re a people of great love, intelligence and compassion.”

Rich is convinced this is just the beginning, and Hisham will have an impact on the world.

That’s what Richard said to Hisham a few days ago while speaking to him by phone in the rehab facility.

Then he told his nephew what an extraordinary young man he is, and that he couldn’t be prouder of him.

mpatinki@providencejournal.com

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Brown University student Hisham Awartani recovers at rehab near school