NEW YORK – An amnesia victim in Boston (search) who appeared on FOX News Saturday in the hopes that someone would recognize him will be reunited with his brother tomorrow, a full month after he suffered his memory loss.
The young man’s brother, who lives in North Carolina (search) and has been frantically looking for him, contacted a local Boston station after seeing him on last night's edition of "The Big Story Weekend With Rita Cosby." (search)
Maliki Hamani, 33, says he is 100 percent sure that the man who had identified himself only by a remembered nickname, “Tee,” is his younger brother, 22-year-old Omar Hamani. Maliki Hamani told FOX News a relative called him Saturday night during the airing of “The Big Story” and told him that his brother was on television.
Maliki Hamani instantly recognized Tee as his brother. He had been trying to locate him after he went missing after leaving Greensborough, N.C. for what was supposed to be a brief visit to Washington, D.C. on personal business with three friends.
When Omar Hamani failed to return on schedule, Maliki Hamani feared for his safety.
Meanwhile, Omar Hamani was found dazed in a dirty snow bank on a street corner in Boston’s Mattapan section on Jan. 12 and brought to a hospital for treatment of a head injury; however, he had no recollection of how he got there or even who he was.
"The last thing I remember is being thrown out of a car by three people. I woke up on the street and there was a lady over me," Omar Hamani said.
He said he had a vague recollection of a woman calling him "Tee," which was how he was identified on the "The Big Story." He also said that he remembered playing basketball. His brother has since confirmed that Omar Hamani was a professional basketball player in their native country, Niger, West Africa.
Maliki Hamani has arranged a reunion with his brother, who has been staying with a host family in Weymouth, Mass., south of Boston. But Omar Hamani says he still has no recollection of an older brother.
Police detectives who were alerted to the case by a social worker had fingerprinted and photographed Omar Hamani before he was identified to see if he was wanted for a crime and checked for a missing-persons report. Neither search turned up anything.
Caritas Carney Hospital discharged Omar Hamani last Monday to a Dorchester homeless center run by the Pilgrim Church. He left the hospital in the jeans, tan T-shirt and black jacket he was wearing when he arrived there. His wallet was empty, but there was $80 tucked into one of his sneakers.
Omar Hamani said he was robbed of the cash within hours of arriving at the shelter. So he returned to the hospital but was told they had no place for him.
"We did everything we could for him, medically," hospital spokeswoman Diane Lupo said.
During the weeks he spent in the psychiatric unit there, Omar Hamani befriended another patient, Kelly Rust, 24, and called her for help.
Rust called her sister, Stacy MacEachern, who invited him to stay at her Weymouth home until someone was able to identify him.
Omar Hamani reportedly still remembers very little and is nervous about the reunion with his brother.
Authorities are looking for the three friends with whom Omar Hamani had said he was going away.
FOX News' Darragh Worland and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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