One of the youngest victims of the Christchurch mosque shooting has had eight surgeries and remains unconscious more than a week after she was shot three times.
Wasseim Alsati and his 4-year-old daughter, Alin, are continuing their brave fight for life after they were viciously shot multiple times by a lone gunman at the Al Noor mosque in Deans Ave.
The pair were at the entrance to the mosque when Alsati saw a man holding a gun.
"I remember everything about that day. I thought the man was in the New Zealand military that's why I was walking close to him. I didn't run away from him.
"I was walking to the prayer door. He was wearing a military uniform. I looked at his eyes and as soon as he saw me he loaded his automatic gun and then he pointed it at my daughter's face - it was then I realised he was not in the New Zealand military," he said, speaking to the Herald on Sunday from his hospital bed for the first time since the Friday massacre.
Alsati said he and his wife, Asma Daraghmeh, were anxiously waiting for their daughter to wake up from her eighth operation at Auckland's Starship Hospital. The hospital said she remained in a critical condition.
"We are still praying for Alin to wake up. She hasn't fully woken up yet. She has had eight operations and I have had seven.
"Alin needs one more operation because there was so much damage done to her so far. It's going to take a long time."
Wasseim Alsati provided an update on his injuries from his hospital bed last Sunday.
The little girl is the youngest of four children, three girls and a boy. She turns 5 next month and was due to start primary school then.
Alsati, a Jordanian barber, said he was tired from all the operations and was finding it hard to talk for long. "I can only talk three minutes at a time. I am really tired and I find it difficult to speak. To be honest I have had better days but I am still working on my recovery."
Last week he had surgery to get "shrapnel and bone out of his hip socket" and surgery for a "perforated bowel and an injury to his pelvis".
"I can't explain a lot of them in English but I have had surgery on my gall bladder, and the head - I have had seven surgeries so far."
A day after the attack Wasseim posted a heartfelt video from his hospital bed to thank well wishers in New Zealand and around the world for their kindness and support.
In his video, Wasseim who was barely audible and in pain thanked everyone for their support.
"I will not be able to answer them. I am just posting this video to show you that I am fully okay. God bless you all."
Alsati moved from Jordan's capital, Amman, to New Zealand in 2014 with his wife and family and worked at Revive Hairdressing.
In 2017 and 2018 he won the Ray Astwood Barbering Event and he had just set up his own business, Wass' Barbers last month. Friends and former clients paid tribute to Alsati on Facebook describing him as "lovely" and a "beautiful soul".
Alsati said: "One of the main reasons that I have decided to live in New Zealand is they don't care who you are, they just treat you as a human being and you're allowed to be whatever you want."
Meanwhile, the youngest victim 2-year-old Averroes Syah has been discharged from hospital.
His father, Zulfirman Syah, shielded Averroes during the attack taking most of the bullets himself.
Averroes sustained minor injuries, including a gunshot to his leg and backside, but Syah was shot multiple times.
Syah's wife Alta Marie said on Facebook her son was discharged from hospital on Thursday and was in good spirits despite needing on-going medical care at home.
Her husband was expecting to be released sometime in the week ahead but would have an "extensive at-home treatment plan".
She described meeting Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern last week saying she was "exactly as we expected her to be: full of grace, compassion, and empathy, coupled with a willingness tackle the unmet needs of individuals and the entire nation".
She also posted a message of thanks: "To everyone who has donated, prayed, sent well-wishes, positive vibes, and especially to those complete strangers who were kind, decent human beings in moments of crisis: THANK YOU, from the bottom of our hearts."
* An earlier version of this article contained a photograph incorrectly captioned as Alin.
