An Edmonton man who volunteered to fight in the war in Ukraine has died, his family tells CBC News.
It’s believed Josh Mayers, 34, was killed on Nov. 10 near Bakhmut, a city in the country’s east.
His wife, Cathryn Unverricht, said a member of Mayers’s team told her that he was digging a trench when he was killed in a drone strike.
Fighting is ongoing near Bakhmut, and Unverricht said Mayers’s body has yet to be retrieved. She said a member of his team provided the family with visual confirmation.
Global Affairs Canada tells CBC News that it is aware of an incident involving a Canadian in Ukraine but could not provide further details due to privacy concerns. It has not confirmed Mayers’s death.
The department said it is aware of nine Canadians who have been killed in Ukraine since the invasion in 2022.
Unverricht described Mayers as someone with a really big heart.
“Whenever anything happened or whenever anyone was upset, he was always the first one there, making everything better, offering solutions and just doing anything he could to help,” she said.
The pair were together for eight years and had been married for only 14 months.
Mayers worked as a paramedic with Alberta Health Services (AHS) for nearly 10 years and as a primary care paramedic in rural Alberta before then.
Mother Janet Penner said Mayers’s focus was on others.
“I know he had considered emergency medicine. He was all about caring for people. That was always Josh,” she said.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of our colleague and our condolences go out to their family and friends during this difficult time,” reads a statement from AHS to CBC News.
“We have offered supports and resources to those at AHS who are impacted by this loss.”
Fighting in Ukraine
In the summer, Unverricht said Mayers discussed his desire to help in the fight in Ukraine.
“He brought up that he had been thinking about this for a long time,” she said.
“I really wanted to support him in the same way that he had always supported me for everything that I had always done … After many long discussions, I decided that even though I wasn’t OK with the idea, I would support him.”
Mayers’s father, Irvin Mayers, said that he did not have any say when his son told him about his plan.
“He was very clear he was going. We talked about it. I wasn’t happy he was going. But once it was clear that was his choice, [I was] very much supportive,” he said.
“He’s always been willing to put himself out there. As a paramedic, at the beginning of COVID, every time he’d pick someone up, he was at risk of getting seriously ill and he just kept doing that. That’s been him from forever.”
It was the same for his mother.
“My heart did a somersault and I told him I loved him and I supported him,” Penner said.
‘Doing what was right’
Unverricht said her husband’s conviction to go stemmed from a need to help others.
“He just really felt strongly about doing what was right and helping people and supporting them,” she said.
“I know for the last little while of his career as a paramedic, he was really starting to feel like he wasn’t helping people in the way that he wanted to and doing what he wanted to help. And he was really moved by this.
“He felt that other people weren’t doing enough to help. I think he decided that if nobody else was gonna help … that he would take it upon himself.”
Mayers arrived in Ukraine in early September and messaged his wife frequently.
He initially signed on with one brigade then decided to serve with another to be more on the front lines, Unverricht said, adding that he served as a paramedic.
“Before he left, he was scared. While he was there, he was scared. Once he joined this newest unit that he was with, because it is an assault brigade, it’s much more of an offensive [unit] so I know he was very scared to join that unit,” she said.
When the family got word that Mayers had been killed, it was difficult for Penner to digest.
“Worst moment of my life. I was in denial,” she said.
“It was something I’ll never forget. I just wanted proof, I didn’t want to believe it.”
As the family mourns Mayers’s death, Unverricht wants people to keep his memory and his convictions alive.
“He just dedicated his life to helping people,” she said.
“He used to be a lifeguard and he helped people that way. And then he became a paramedic because he wanted to help people that way.
“At the end of the day, he went to another country that he’s not even from because he felt that it was so important for him to do the right thing and fight for a cause — the biggest cause of all that he could think of — and help people to his final day.”
Source : CBC
