Hope For Michael

To gofundme.com
I am advocating for Michael and have been a long time friend of his since meeting in high school.  Any funds Michael receives will be withdrawn by Michael.  Michael has full access to this Gofundme campaign.  Please contact me by phone or email if you require any further information, or should you wish to contact Michael directly.  

Thank you.

Jennifer Clough

Michael Rudder joined a group of individuals on a spiritual journey to Mumbai in 2008.  Michael, along with his group had just returned to their hotel after spending a wonderful day in spiritual guidance and meditation.  A few decided to have a bite in the dining room and commiserate about their experiences, while others decided to go to their rooms.   Suddenly, a group of terrorists known as Lashkar-eTaiba led by Zakiur_Rehman_Lakhvi (based in Pakistan), stormed the hotel on a shooting and bombing rampage.  Michael was shot four times and left on the dining room floor for dead.   A ricocheted bullet penetrated the base of his skull and rendered him unconscious.  When Michael came to, he realized he needed to escape in order to survive.  Michael did escape, but his injuries would prove to be life altering.   Michael has received no financial compensation from either Pakistan or the Canadian government.  Michael was told that in order to be eligible for compensation he would have had to be a government employee.  It is interesting to note the U.S. government awarded their citizens a lump sum of $250,000.00. 

Michael has gone through his life savings in order to make ends meet.  It is my goal to raise enough money so that Michael can live out the rest of his life in relative comfort.  

Here is Michael's story.

Michael Rudder is a Genie nominated film actor and television actor with over forty years of experience singing, dancing and acting on Canada's professional stages. Michael was in Mumbai, India for a two week meditation retreat with an international group of fellow students and his teacher. They visited the many Swamis, holy sites and temples found near the centre of the city. 

Sharing a late night meal in the Tiffin Restaurant in the Oberoi after a busy day of touring and an evening of intense meditation, seemed an excellent way to end the day. Michael planned to rise early the next morning to take a bus 60 miles north to Ganeshpuri to the burial site of his guru, Swami Muktananda to pay his respects at the Mahasamadhi Shrine.

It was not to be.

Earlier, so-called jihadi gunmen had crept into the country from Pakistan and broke into the hotel while they were dining. They began what became a three day seige, terrorizing, killing and injuring many people before they themselves were killed.

Two of Michael's friends, Alan Scherr and his daughter Naomi, sitting at the same restaurant table that night were murdered there. Three of his other dinner companions were also shot and injured that night. 

Michael was shot four times; once in the right arm, once in the left thigh, once in the anus and once to his head, when a ricochet bullet lodged itself in his skull without penetrating it. This fourth bullet knocked him right out.

Regaining consciousness on the floor of the restaurant, and seeing that his other friends had already fled or been rescued, he heard the terrorists breaking up the lobby furniture. When he heard a liquid being splashed around, he realized that they were setting the furniture on fire, which would surely make him cough, alerting the gunmen, who would return to execute him. He crawled through the doors of the restaurant's kitchen, found his way to an emergency exit and escaped. Whisked to Bombay Hospital, he spent his next twenty days fighting for his life, undergoing multiple operations until he was declared fit enough to make the return trip to a hospital near his home in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Years of recuperation and further operations and setbacks followed. 

His heart suffered enormous shock in the trauma and required further operations. Ten years on, he still requires daily heart medications to manage symptoms that began that day.

The fourth bullet, lodged in his skull without penetrating it, caused late onset concussion symptoms and ongoing difficulty with focus and concentration.

The third bullet did the most damage, penetrating his anus, deforming his sphincter and his anal canal. Despite the attentions of several specialists, ten years later he still spends between two to three hours a day taking care of the affects of this wound. It keeps him from taking long walks, visiting the gym or swimming. He cannot eat raw vegetables, nor most fruit, or drink juice of any kind or eat any high fibre foods.

He needs immediate access to washrooms everywhere he goes.

As a result, his career as successful working actor has been sidelined and undermined, while his overall health is greatly reduced due to the inability to exercise.

Without any compensation from national or provincial governments or any kind of government assistance other than his pensions, and without the good health to pursue gainful employment, he has depleted his entire life savings and gone into bankruptcy. He has been forced into early retirement. He lives in his country cottage, on the edge of extreme poverty and unable to pay his basic living expenses. Michael has been unable to pay for dentistry for eight years, and has lived without home internet for three. His life now is far from the active, successful one he once lived. Even still, he could return to live performance as his evenings are mostly free of difficulty. 

The following is a CBC interview with Michael from his hospital bed in Mumbai.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJPNMM9Oooc&t=110s

2 Canadians killed in Mumbai attacks:  The link below, will direct you to a complete report by the CBC of ALL the events leading up to, and including the four day siege of Mumbai.  

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/2-canadians-killed-in-mumbai-attacks-cannon-1.734344

I NEED HELP WITH THE FOLLOWING EXPENSES:

I need funds to pay off my current debts, to afford home internet and to pay for necessary dental work. I seek the funds to support me while I create either a one man theatre work, write a book or both, detailing my experiences and everything I have learned from them.

I urgently need the funds to have a new roof replacing the current one which is leaking and ready to cave in with the weight of the snow and ice.

For the project I have in mind I will need money to buy rehearsal time and for the initial promotion of this project.

My highly unusual experience will offer insight, and I have the creative imagination and tools to make a written or theatrical memoir both entertaining and instructive.

A project like this could give me the tools to guarantee an income, AND an opportunity to work my way back to a productive and secure life.

Thank you. "

Michael

Prior to his injuries, and in addition to his acting career, Michael was a thriving studio director for the Montreal film and television industry in the dubbing industry, with a long resume of success as a dubbing performer and narrator. His resume is readily available on IMDb.