May 4, 2021 • 48 mins
When Matthew Ames fell ill in June 2013, he thought he had just come down with the flu. And four doctors agreed, sending him home to rest. When the pain became unbearable, he took himself to hospital. Matthew had contracted a streptococcal infection that ravaged his body, leading to the amputation of both arms and both legs. Rather than dwell on what he'd lost, Matthew got on with rehabilitation and adjusting to his new normal, with his wife and four kids by his side. Mike Willesee met this incredible family in 2013.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
To his four kids, Matthew Ames is the best dad
in the world. To his wife Diane, he's the love
of her life. And to Mike Willisy, Matthew's story is
one of the most inspirational he's ever reported. Soon, Matthew
will be Australia's first bionic man. In June last year,
(00:21):
Matthew had a sore throat. He thought he had man flu.
What he didn't realize is that Streptococcus A, a bug
many of us carry harmlessly in the backs of our throats,
had invaded his bloodstream. Matthew rapidly went from cold like
symptoms to unbearable pain. In hospital. Surgeons told Diane his
(00:42):
only chance of survival was to amputate his arms and
his legs, and even then there was less than a
one percent chance that he'd live. It was up to
her to make the decision. Diane didn't hesitate, and that's
when this remarkable love story really begins. Here's Mike Willisy.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
If you were talking to someone who'd never met your dad,
never met him, never seen him, and say, what's your
dad like? What would you say?
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Awesome?
Speaker 4 (01:16):
One word awesome.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Ben, What would you say? Remember, they've never met your.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Dad spectacular, I would say, inspirational, caring, a role model.
He shows a good example, like that kind of stuff,
and I would say he's a really good dad.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
So who's got the best dad in the world.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
We should get the.
Speaker 5 (01:53):
Other way and then we're bounced back.
Speaker 6 (01:56):
Here comes baby.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
More before a common but deadly bug suddenly flooded his
body with toxins. Matthew Aams was a hands on dad.
Speaker 7 (02:24):
When I pass a mirror, you know, and see myself,
you know, I keep on almost taking sort of a
second look, going, holy crap, that guy's gotten that guy's
got no arms and legs.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Forty year old Matthew is a university graduate who was
working as an engineer for Origin Energy. He and wife
Die lived with their four children in Brisbane. Hi Matthew, Mike, Melissy,
Hi Mike.
Speaker 5 (02:57):
Great to meet you.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
I got to see you.
Speaker 5 (03:00):
I'm Die.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yeah, I know you.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Yeah, to meet you.
Speaker 8 (03:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
I've been reading so much about you guys and looking
forward to meeting you.
Speaker 5 (03:07):
It's been great. Yeah, thank you, appreciate it. So good
to meet you.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Matthew and I have been in love virtually since the
day they met. Your relationship was Die, Your sisters describe
it as something like the perfect love affair.
Speaker 5 (03:25):
So what I.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
How did it start?
Speaker 7 (03:30):
We met at university first week in UNI, so yeah.
We were friends for a while and then I went,
I know what I really like this girl.
Speaker 6 (03:41):
We were both seventeen, and within two weeks of knowing
each other, we both knew that we wanted to marry
each other. It just took another five years for it
to happen because we had to finish UNI and start
earning money.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Is it true you proposed at the top of the
Eiffel Tower?
Speaker 7 (03:57):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (03:58):
I did. Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, it was.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
That's fantastic.
Speaker 9 (04:03):
It was good.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
How strong are your memories of your wedding day?
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Oh? I would say they're pretty strong.
Speaker 5 (04:13):
Yeah, so it was.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
It was a magical day for us. End of the sun,
end of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 10 (04:37):
Love, if You're beautiful?
Speaker 2 (04:40):
You recited the words from a song.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
The depeche Mode song, Yes.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Do you remember the words?
Speaker 11 (04:47):
I do?
Speaker 3 (04:47):
That It was I found somebody to share.
Speaker 12 (04:51):
Share the rest of my life, share money and my thoughts,
no money to make deta someone who will stand by
my sol and be my support and him return.
Speaker 5 (05:12):
It's okay. Grab a tissue tissue.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Then it was beautiful. I'll so pleased you remember it.
Speaker 5 (05:21):
But much better than me.
Speaker 7 (05:24):
I got a bit of a fish memory like.
Speaker 5 (05:28):
He didn't ask me.
Speaker 6 (05:33):
Ah, I was hoping I didn't need the tishes today.
Speaker 5 (05:39):
We cried on the night too, so I did.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Yes, crying is my thing.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
And then babies followed, and there was no prouder dad
than Matthew.
Speaker 13 (06:03):
Oh okay, we'll say good everybody.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
They had three boys in quick succession. Four years later,
one more bub would join this big, happy family. Hello,
how are you, Luke?
Speaker 5 (06:29):
Great to see you. Come on in a good day.
Speaker 7 (06:34):
Hello, Benjamin say hello to Mike?
Speaker 5 (06:38):
Is behind you?
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Luke and Ben are the eldest boys.
Speaker 5 (06:44):
Good to see you. You say hi to Mike. Hello,
good to meet you.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Three year old Emily, their youngest child and their only girl.
Speaker 5 (06:54):
And we've lost one.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Where would be will be?
Speaker 5 (07:00):
Hello?
Speaker 7 (07:03):
How are you well? I can see you coming over
and say hello Mead, And behind you, this is Mike
say hi.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Will is seven years old and mining names Willow, so
we could be related. We're not related, okay. Until he
fell ill, Matthew was an active father water bombs. One
day coaching the kids cricket the next in June last year,
(07:48):
you started feeling sick. How sick did you think you were?
Speaker 7 (07:53):
I knew there was something pretty wrong with me. I mean,
being a typical AUSSI bloke, I didn't really go to
the doctor.
Speaker 5 (07:59):
Very much, and you know, I knew I was sick.
Speaker 7 (08:03):
I kind of wondered whether I had the man flew
and I was complaining a little bit too much, but
I just knew there was something wrong with me.
Speaker 6 (08:09):
Matthew was just progressively getting worse and worse, and he
was in a lot of pain, but there was nothing,
nothing that seemed to improve it.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Matthew was sick for some days and was concerned enough
to see four doctors. They were all send into bed.
Then suddenly he was struck with unbearable pain and could
not walk.
Speaker 5 (08:32):
He was brought here, got to triage.
Speaker 7 (08:36):
I put out my left arm and showed the triage
nurse my rash And apparently I was awaking for another
twelve hours after that, but my brains decided that it
doesn't want to remember anything from that point.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Do you remember the pain?
Speaker 8 (08:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (08:55):
I remember the pain, yeah, yeah. Apparently I was pumped
full of three lots of morphine. I didn't really settle
the pain.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
So yeah, then three weeks of your life disappeared.
Speaker 5 (09:06):
Yeah, now known as my beauty sleep not for your family.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Early next morning, Matthew was placed into an induced coma.
His left arm identified as the site of an infection.
Doctors operate to try to stop the spread of the toxins,
but it doesn't work. Would you say he was dying.
He was in the process of dying. Definitely.
Speaker 14 (09:29):
We were dealing with a man who was what we
call septic, I guess, with an infection that was affecting
every organ system in his body and making him extremely sick.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Matthew went into streptocockle toxic shock. Worst affected was his
left arm. Die was frantically dividing her time between his
hospital bed and caring for their children. The next day,
Matthew has his left arm taken from him, amputated high
above the elbow. Dies called back to the hospital. She
(10:03):
thinks he is dead.
Speaker 6 (10:05):
I don't know why I kept on saying it, but
I just kept saying it as I was driving the
whole time, going we can't have you go. I love you,
you need to stay here. So I was just saying
it to the era as I was driving.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
So what was your belief?
Speaker 3 (10:24):
I thought that we were losing him that night.
Speaker 15 (10:29):
We looked at his limbs on the Friday evening when
we amputated his left arm. You know, his other limbs
didn't look normal, but they didn't weren't to the point
where we thought we needed to amputate, but you could
see them then progress over the next twelve or so
hours to become essentially looking like the left had.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
The left had done so you had to proceed to
a quadruple amputation.
Speaker 14 (10:55):
Yes, yeah, how rare is that? It's very uncommon. This
is the only one I been involved with. I'm aware
of other cases, but it is uncommon. It's usually in
victims of trauma in the battlefield scenario.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
On the Saturday, just three days after Matthew's admission, his
family gathered here in the intensive care visitors room. They
were asked by the surgical team to make the most
difficult and the most unimaginable decision of their lives. And
it took them just five minutes. And then you had
(11:32):
that horrendous meeting of the family in the visitors room.
I see you, yes, and the surgeons and physicians, the
whole stack of them, came in, told you what was
happening and asked you to make a most difficult decision.
Speaker 6 (11:48):
Yes, the surgeons told us that basically this was it
unless we went ahead with the operation to amputate his
three remaining limps, because he'd already had one amputated at
that stage, and there wasn't a lot of hope that
(12:11):
he would make it through. So it was given perhaps
a less than one percent chance. And I do remember
saying to the doctors that Matthew will be the one percent.
He will be the one that can make it through.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Matthew has two older sisters, Kate and Rachel. They were
in the room with Die as the decision was taken
to amputate. What consideration did you give to the fact
that if Matthew survives against the odds, when he comes
out of this coma and out of sedation, he's going
to be told, Matthew, you have no arms and no legs.
Speaker 8 (12:46):
Look, you know that's when my sense of humor kicks
in and I was joking, well, what can he do?
Speaker 11 (12:51):
He can't punch us.
Speaker 8 (12:51):
At that point in time, you know, he really was
a way of cope.
Speaker 5 (12:59):
It was going to be away.
Speaker 8 (13:00):
See, it wasn't going to be something that we could
easily go. No, Matthew's going to be fine and perfect,
and you know there was a long journey ahead. But
with Die by his side, we would do everything that
we can to make his life and find the next solution.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
So Die being Matthew's wife in this perfect love story,
did she have more of a say in that decision
for four amputations?
Speaker 6 (13:29):
Oh?
Speaker 8 (13:29):
Absolutely absolutely, because she was the one who had to
sign the form as he's next of kin. She was
the one who had to actually tell them that the
amputations could proceed. And I think at the time she
really felt the weight of that responsibility.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
She said, making that decision about your amputations, it was
the first decision she'd made without.
Speaker 5 (13:54):
You, really big one.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Yeah, because she led that meeting.
Speaker 7 (14:02):
When I heard about that meeting, I just said today,
I just said, thank you. I would have made exactly
the same decision, and I just knew that she would
have looked after me no matter what.
Speaker 6 (14:18):
I believed in him at that stage, and I always
believe in him. I just needed everybody else to be
on board with believing in him. So I didn't want
the doctors to go into the operating theater, thinking that
it was anything other than a positive experience.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
The amputations took three hours, first the right leg, then
the left, and then while that was being done, another
surgical team started sawing off his right arm. Matthew's recovery
would be touch and go.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
That was the scariest fit in all of the hospital.
Speaker 5 (15:02):
He was in hospital.
Speaker 4 (15:05):
Yes, well when he nearly died, yes, same bit. Yes,
I remember coming in and then they said, oh, he's
going to die, and then I was like, oh, no, never,
they never said that. Yeah, they said that he might. Yeah,
(15:25):
he had a ninety nine percent chance of die and
only a one percent of living and the one present
one against the ninety nine people.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
What have you got?
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Fifteen months have passed since Matthew's arms and legs were amputated.
Was there a point for you, Well, you said, Now,
I get it. I understand the picture, I understand the reality.
Speaker 5 (16:06):
I think when I got home the first night, and ah,
I was there at.
Speaker 7 (16:15):
Home and I could realize what the new normal might be.
I think that was the time when it kind of
really sunk in.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
The most can't climb the stairs, no, I can't go
to the bathroom, No, can't clean your teeth.
Speaker 7 (16:32):
Yeah, I can't roll over in the middle of the night.
I can't blow my nose. That's a bit annoying.
Speaker 5 (16:46):
You missed it, You come on quick at it.
Speaker 6 (17:00):
I can't.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
After his amputations, Matthew was on life support and in
an induced coma for three weeks, watching over him, waiting
with him. Was his wife die? When you made that
(17:24):
terribly difficult decision in the visitors room to say yes,
amputator or limbs? Yes, you took only five minutes.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Yes.
Speaker 6 (17:38):
In my mind there was no alternative. I couldn't let
Matthew die. He he is my everything. Matthew and our
kids mean the world to me, and he is the
(18:00):
most amazing dad and he needs to be here for
the journey to guide our kids and he will be.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
What do you miss the most?
Speaker 3 (18:12):
What do I miss the most? Probably holding hands.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
When he came to three weeks later, and it was
your job to tell him what had happened, that it
wasn't the flu. You now have no arms and legs.
Do you remember what you said?
Speaker 5 (18:33):
Yes?
Speaker 11 (18:33):
I do.
Speaker 6 (18:35):
You got to the point where the doctors had done
everything that they could medically to save your life, and
there was no other way forward, and the only option
was to amputate his remaining arms and legs, and so
(18:56):
I had gone ahead with that option to you tat
his arms and legs to save his life.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
It's hard for the rest of us to get our
minds around that You've gone to hospital sick and you
wake up knowing nothing to be told you have no
arms and no legs. Now, of course you're coming out
of sedation. Did you fully understand what she was telling you?
Speaker 7 (19:23):
I can't remember exactly what she told me now, but
I do remember a couple of key things.
Speaker 5 (19:33):
I remember.
Speaker 7 (19:35):
Sitting there and listening to Die explain like a sequence
of events of what had happened and what I'd gone through,
and I just remember thinking, Okay, that makes sense. Now.
I know I was not feeling very well, and I
(19:57):
just had this overwhelming feeling, given Die was there, that
everything was going to be okay. And now I get
sad about the lost opportunities that I could.
Speaker 5 (20:13):
Have had with arms and legs.
Speaker 13 (20:17):
But with every time you see the sadness, you see
the other side of the opportunities and the fantastic the
fact that I'm here to see the kids grow up,
to help die and to grow old. It's just such
(20:39):
a blessing. The rest of it.
Speaker 5 (20:43):
Doesn't really matter, And.
Speaker 13 (20:53):
I just get a little bit sad sometimes.
Speaker 5 (20:56):
About those lost opportunities. That's it, you know, it was
just kicking a bo It's always a simple thing.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
You grieving for what you can't do is quite different
from grieving for yourself to make a blunt feeling sorry
for yourself, which would be very understandable, it would.
Speaker 7 (21:16):
It just doesn't appear to really be in me to
dwell there for very long. I mean, it still strikes
me every once in a while, not so much now.
Speaker 5 (21:31):
I think.
Speaker 7 (21:32):
You know, when my two boys, younger boys, could see
the fear in their eyes, that's when it really struck me.
And that was that same day, so when they first
saw me awake.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
You would have still been pretty hazy then, but you
still saw the fear in the boy's eyes. Strong memory.
Speaker 11 (21:54):
Ye, that are.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
You shoulders?
Speaker 4 (22:04):
Are you working on hat to put your arms out
without putting that shoulder up, So.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
You're working through.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
There's stuff that we haven't been through, what you've been through,
and nothing like it. And wearing a wedding.
Speaker 5 (22:24):
Ring, Yeah, I miss mine.
Speaker 7 (22:26):
We've talked about putting it around my neck on our
necklace and stuff like that, but I kind of the
way that I move it will get in the way,
so we haven't quite worked out myself pierced my ears.
Speaker 5 (22:36):
And stick it in there, so we'll see how we go.
And my watch.
Speaker 7 (22:40):
She gave me a watch for my twenty first birthday
and I missed that as well.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
I'll bet we all have difficulty, Matthew and understanding phantom pain.
Can you help us?
Speaker 5 (22:56):
Yeah, it's for some reason.
Speaker 7 (22:59):
It's well, for a number of reasons. It's actually worse
in my hands than my legs. It kind of feels
like my hands and arms are on fire all the time.
Speaker 5 (23:15):
My legs.
Speaker 7 (23:17):
They leave me alone most of the time, but every
once in a while I kind of get a real
shot of pain up from my foot for some strange reason.
So if I stopped talking and lose breath, that's gently
what's happened.
Speaker 5 (23:30):
So that's how it.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Feels now he has to deal with phantom pains. Yes,
what's that like? As his wife when you see that happening.
Speaker 6 (23:40):
Well, it's really hard for me to know that he's
in pain all the time.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
So it's okay, take your time.
Speaker 6 (24:01):
Okay, okay, it's just hard watching him in vain.
Speaker 11 (24:17):
There's something special about this guy. There's something in his
psychological makeup that is rare, that's a gift to him
and to the people around him. When you see someone
for the first time like Matt your heart does lurch
a little bit. You want to I feel you want
(24:37):
to help. The family were meeting me in the corridor.
Before I even got to the room. I'd had phone
calls from the intensive care guys who were sort of
transformed by this family, and from the orthpeedic session from
Tim about this situation. So there was obviously in effect
he was having on people around him, even unconscious in
a hospital bed.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
After Matthew's limbs were removed, doctor Saul Geffen took charge
of his rehabilitation. Seldom has he seen a patient with
Matthew's fighting qualities. Matthew beat virtually all the odds to survive.
But now, in your field of rehabilitation, how difficult a
(25:22):
patient was he from day one?
Speaker 11 (25:25):
Matt's one of the best professional challenges I'll ever have
in my life.
Speaker 5 (25:31):
I'll bet you couldn't hold.
Speaker 11 (25:32):
Up for ten seconds stationary?
Speaker 5 (25:34):
Yeah, you know me? So you shouldn't beat me anything.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
You ready yet?
Speaker 11 (25:41):
Undo it?
Speaker 5 (25:45):
One long stop? We're going for ten seconds?
Speaker 9 (25:52):
Two three?
Speaker 11 (26:01):
Yeah, I'm I'm.
Speaker 13 (26:02):
Wrong, Damn you, Matthew Adams. Give the man a goalie
gives it.
Speaker 11 (26:10):
It has been an honor and a privilege to work
with this guy because I wouldn't have the grace and
courage he displayed, and he's displayed from day one.
Speaker 9 (26:28):
Third of firm.
Speaker 5 (26:47):
Thanks.
Speaker 9 (26:48):
Okay, everything looks where it should be.
Speaker 5 (26:50):
Thank you. Does it feel okay?
Speaker 9 (26:52):
Yep? Yep?
Speaker 11 (26:56):
Nice?
Speaker 16 (26:57):
Nice good? Matt good, Okay, get your arms moving.
Speaker 11 (27:21):
When you see someone like Matt for the first time,
For many people who are not used to disability and
disfiguring disabilities, it's very confronting.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Yeah, it seems there are people who are simply uncomfortable
when confronted with disability.
Speaker 6 (27:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (27:38):
I think for me, guys are harder than meeting a guys,
harder than meeting a girl because girls will kind of
give you a cuddle or a kiss and that's okay,
whereas guys go to shake your hand and then they.
Speaker 5 (27:51):
Kind of go, holy crap, what do I do?
Speaker 7 (27:54):
And you can see it in their eyes, So you know,
most of the time when I get an opportunity, I
kind of go shake my stump.
Speaker 5 (28:00):
It's what I've got left.
Speaker 9 (28:09):
Mm hmm w h.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
Yeah, we've seen him in the gym at rehab. Yes,
he really goes for it, doesn't he He does.
Speaker 11 (28:31):
Stair hasn't got a new note mat Matthew.
Speaker 6 (28:34):
He's amazing because he keeps pushing forward all the time.
Speaker 16 (28:40):
And I haven't done this little before, so this is
I haven't touched him.
Speaker 15 (28:44):
This son is going to be easy to flop on off.
Speaker 5 (28:47):
Take your time, don't.
Speaker 17 (28:48):
Rush, get set, good set, great control. It's well done,
(29:10):
well done, awesome top of Mount Matthew.
Speaker 11 (29:15):
Seriously, I'm going to get some graffiti on this.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
What do you think would stop him from this incredible
ability to stay up and positive? What would it take
to stop him?
Speaker 6 (29:32):
M to not have the family there? The family means
everything to Matthew. He's doing this all for us, for
us at all, to be together.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Whose birthday party is it today? And last year you
had a birthday party too when you turn nine?
Speaker 7 (29:52):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (29:52):
And what was the big surprise?
Speaker 4 (29:54):
The Laddy Daddy came home for the first time and
it was only a week out of intensive care and
I was like to mum or the one thing I'd
really luck for my birthdays for him to come home.
And I got it a bit well. He got out
of intensive care.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
For two hours, so.
Speaker 4 (30:21):
At one of the best things that ever.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Happened to me.
Speaker 7 (30:25):
I remember being a bit apprehensive. I still wasn't feeling
very well and looking back down, I didn't look very well.
But I remember just thinking this is going to be
a bit hard. But I just wanted to be there
for Luke's birthday. I wanted to get home for so
long and just out of intensive care, I just needed
(30:49):
something to hang on to. So just to be home
and see home again was just amazing and grateful.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Luke.
Speaker 7 (30:55):
Oh yeah, it was just to see the smile on
his face when he walked down. It was amazing you.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
Oh nice party.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
It would be eight months before Matthew was well enough
to come home for good. When he was in his
coma die kept a diary for him to read when
he woke. Has Matthew seen this?
Speaker 3 (31:38):
Yeah he has.
Speaker 5 (31:39):
Yeah, I fear while ago so well.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
I just read it to Matthew.
Speaker 6 (31:49):
Look summed up how he felt the other night when
he said it doesn't matter whether Daddy has arms or legs.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
It's what's on the inside that counts. And that's so true.
Speaker 6 (32:02):
There have been times when you've been in hospital and
now I thought that I just need to speak to you.
You are my rock, You are my everything. Without being
able to talk to you, life has been unbearable. I
(32:25):
know that the reality of what you're facing may seem
hard to some, but not to you. In the days
that it is hard, I am here to be your rock.
I will always be here for you. I love you
now more than I've ever loved you.
Speaker 5 (32:45):
You are my soulmate. I love you too. You do
(33:08):
you first.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
That's what she always does, This love affair with Die,
which has emerged in the story very strong for more
than twenty years and unchanged. She's not, in fact, strengthened
by this trauma. How important is that?
Speaker 11 (33:27):
I would only hope for a partner like that for everybody,
because you know, the marriage vowse said health and sickness,
good times and bad, and she's done that. So yeah,
it's an amazing I get emotional about. Sorry, it does
(33:50):
it touches you? It really doesn't. I hope it touches
the people watching Morning.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
Daddy, Hi Hanning Morning.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
How are you give us the day to day routine.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
Oh, the day to day routine now.
Speaker 7 (34:06):
So we get waken up generally by the front door
plus six in the morning. So somebody comes into to
help me get ready, because with four kids, if we
kind of waited till I was ready until level the
kids were done, and I got some help a bit
about midday. So so we get a bit of help
in the morning for a couple hours. So someone comes
(34:27):
into to wake me up and get me out of bed,
gets me showered, shaved, brush teeth and all that kind
of stuff.
Speaker 6 (34:42):
Luke, sweatie, do you want to practice out?
Speaker 5 (34:48):
And I right you so you can get the breakfast.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
Finish first, Matthew feeds himself with a three thousand dollars
English invention called the Nita eater eighty four.
Speaker 5 (35:00):
You might put it. Need to put some things onto
your spoon. That's it, let's.
Speaker 7 (35:08):
Go, It's okay, ready, okay, stay together, stay together, okay.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
He takes the boys to taekwondo Hello. In fact, as
much as he can. Matthew tries to lead as normal,
alive as possible.
Speaker 7 (35:31):
Production Ready, Okay, go for it. What is your straw?
Speaker 2 (35:39):
Got you go?
Speaker 18 (36:00):
You look hot?
Speaker 3 (36:01):
You look fantastic.
Speaker 9 (36:13):
Who you want for me?
Speaker 2 (36:17):
But this is not where the story ends. It's just beginning.
Soon Matthew will be the first Australian to get four
bionic limbs.
Speaker 3 (36:27):
It will change his life.
Speaker 5 (36:29):
I'll be driving in five years.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
Matthew and I have always loved to dance. Even today,
that hasn't changed. They're doing their best to keep things normal,
but a lot has changed. What do you miss the most?
Speaker 3 (36:54):
Probably holding hands. It's it's hard because.
Speaker 6 (37:01):
That's that's just one of the things that you do
as a couple. You know, you go out and so
much revolves around you know, you touch each other on
your hands or.
Speaker 3 (37:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (37:19):
So and he had beautiful hands to I loved cuddling
his hands. His hands were huge, And it's always felt
felt like a safe place when you were holding Matthew's hands,
when I was holding Matthew's hands.
Speaker 3 (37:32):
So yeah, so.
Speaker 5 (37:36):
We better say goodbye here.
Speaker 6 (37:37):
Okay, all right?
Speaker 5 (37:39):
Love you?
Speaker 8 (37:42):
Oh you might.
Speaker 5 (37:46):
Squeeze cut.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
To lose the ability to hold or to walk is huge,
But for Matthew, there's hope.
Speaker 11 (37:55):
Matthew needs limbs to do everything other than hop around
or waddle on his bottom. So the system that we're
trying to get for Matthew involves very expensive processes because
they're gold standard, they're the best that's available.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
Bionic limbs half a million dollars worth. On Tuesday, Matthew
and I flew from Brisbane to Melbourne for an operation
to prepare him for his new limbs.
Speaker 5 (38:28):
How are you good to see it?
Speaker 2 (38:29):
The leaders of the surgical team have given their time
for free. They're astounded Matthew even lived. How often would
you see a patient who requires for amputations and survive?
Speaker 5 (38:44):
Never seen it?
Speaker 2 (38:45):
Never seen it? No, is he the first trying this
new technology.
Speaker 5 (38:51):
Yes, he's the first quadruple amputee.
Speaker 11 (38:54):
The thing that's going to change for them in the
near future is these techniques that we're going to do,
which will leave metal rods protruding from all of his limbs. Now,
the metal rods are about this long and they have
a square peg on the end, and that's how the
new limbs are going to attach to his body.
Speaker 2 (39:15):
This is how Matthew's bionic limbs will operate. Electrodes implanted
in the nerves and muscles in his stumps will send
signals from his brain, making his hands move. And you're
on the way to being a bionic man.
Speaker 5 (39:33):
Ah, yeah, it looks like it.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
That's not bad man. One more surgery, one more risk,
one more piece of metal implanted. It's one step closer
to mobility, one step closer to self care, and one
giant step forward for Matthew. Matthew's surgery takes three and
(40:05):
a half hours, and Die lives every minute of it.
It all goes well, you.
Speaker 10 (40:19):
Look great, Yeah, honeymoon period for the more families of
the support of Die and his family and friends has
been absolutely critical to getting him through.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
You any help, yes, But it's also prompted great reflection
as Matthew comes to terms with, in his words, his
new normal.
Speaker 7 (40:43):
I kind of know that those around me are picking
up the load for the things that I used to do.
I think as a guy, you know, I kind of
had a sense of identity that was pretty strongly incorporated
of my work and my role in the house and
you know, fixing things, and you know, I got a workshop,
(41:05):
and you know that kind of stuff. You know, even
you know you got to write on you if you
join Twitter, you got to write your twenty twenty character
or twenty word description of yourself. Mine still blank, because
I haven't really worked out how do I describe myself?
Speaker 5 (41:20):
And that's kind of an ongoing journey.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
Do you want to have a crack at that self description?
Speaker 3 (41:24):
Now?
Speaker 7 (41:26):
Yeah, I've kind of worked at some of it. Harry
tried to recall what he had been dreaming about. I
think how I describe myself now would be a husband.
Speaker 9 (41:36):
A dad.
Speaker 7 (41:37):
He concentrated hard, frowning, trying to remember. The dim picture
of a darkened room.
Speaker 5 (41:42):
Came to him. A son and brother and friend.
Speaker 7 (41:48):
And for me, that starting just with that description is
probably different to the way I would have done it before.
Speaker 5 (41:57):
Relationships have become much more important to me.
Speaker 7 (42:01):
I probably put on there I'm an engineer, you still am,
and we'll probably get back at that.
Speaker 5 (42:08):
I might put in there towards the end, you know.
Speaker 7 (42:09):
And by the way, I've got no limbs, you know,
But that's kind of towards the end of the description,
a few other dots to be filled in.
Speaker 5 (42:20):
So so I think that's where I'm at at the moment.
Speaker 18 (42:28):
Hello, good Matthew, how you doing.
Speaker 5 (42:44):
Hi great, how are you going?
Speaker 19 (42:45):
Really good? Great to meet you, great, Thanks for the opportunity,
really looking forward to it.
Speaker 5 (42:49):
Yeah, thanks for coming and see just this.
Speaker 1 (42:51):
Way in the transformation of Matthew Aimes from quadruple amputee
to bionic man. There has been no bigger day than
the He's both nervous and excited about what's inside the
silver box called a Michelangelo hand. It's made in Germany,
(43:13):
made to look and work like a human hand.
Speaker 19 (43:17):
All right, mathink, I plugging the batteries into the hand,
which will give us external power.
Speaker 5 (43:22):
Yep, excellent, and that will.
Speaker 19 (43:24):
Help us make use of the signals within your arm.
Speaker 1 (43:30):
This is how it works. When muscles in what remains
of the arm are flexed, signals are sent along wires
that switch on tiny electric motors and bring the hand
to life. But until today's test, no one knows whether
Matthew has enough muscle control left to operate the bionic system.
Speaker 19 (43:53):
So what I'm looking for is the muscle bellies.
Speaker 7 (43:57):
You know, I lost a fair bit of muscle when
I was in my coma, so you know it's going
to take me a while to get a lot of
that muscle back again.
Speaker 5 (44:07):
I used to be a two finger typer.
Speaker 1 (44:09):
Before the test, Matthew googled the bionic hands. They cost
around one hundred thousand dollars each and if all goes well,
should give him remarkable control and strength.
Speaker 5 (44:21):
Are you able to do a contraction for me? And relax?
Speaker 1 (44:25):
But the initial signs for Matthew were mixed, and he
was worried.
Speaker 7 (44:30):
All of the testing that I'd had showed that I
had one of my four muscles that I can predominantly
use was a strong signal, and the other ones were
quite weakned I had come to terms with the fact
that I may not be able to drive the bionics.
Speaker 19 (44:51):
Well, okay, and again and relax again, that's actually really good.
What we wanted to do is.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
I didn't think I get I try set so.
Speaker 3 (45:05):
Well.
Speaker 5 (45:06):
I've been trying billing hard.
Speaker 19 (45:08):
From both of those sites, it looks like we'll be
able to get functional control.
Speaker 1 (45:12):
It's a great start, but the critical part is yet
to come. After the wires are connected to the bionic
hand itself instead of the computer, Matthew faces his moment
of truth.
Speaker 19 (45:26):
So let's start with a signal to close the hand,
which would be one of your TRICEP contractions. Great, and
now try a BICT contraction to open the hand and
try the tricep to close it. Great, confect excellent, fantastic.
Speaker 5 (45:55):
Come a way, it's quite easy.
Speaker 19 (46:04):
Close great, and close it slowly.
Speaker 9 (46:16):
Great.
Speaker 1 (46:17):
His bionic hand breakthrough happened on a day that's special
to him for another reason.
Speaker 3 (46:24):
Got a did you do it? Awesome?
Speaker 1 (46:29):
It's Matthew and Die's nineteenth wedding anniversary. At dinner that night,
Matthew breaks the news that he has been desperate to
tell Die all day.
Speaker 6 (46:39):
So you wanted to tell me how you went today?
Speaker 7 (46:42):
Oh yeah, so it was fantastic.
Speaker 5 (46:47):
Pretty excited?
Speaker 7 (46:52):
So yeah, fantastic.
Speaker 6 (46:54):
So I burst into tears when Matthew told me about
it because I was so excited for him and for
us that that his body can operate his prosthetic arm.
Thanks beautiful, I love you to the gorgeous.
Speaker 7 (47:24):
We could play a.
Speaker 6 (47:28):
Raver.
Speaker 2 (47:29):
So how do you see him in four or five
years time?
Speaker 4 (47:36):
A legend
To his four kids, Matthew Ames is the best dad
in the world. To his wife Diane, he's the love
of her life. And to Mike Willisy, Matthew's story is
one of the most inspirational he's ever reported. Soon, Matthew
will be Australia's first bionic man. In June last year,
(00:21):
Matthew had a sore throat. He thought he had man flu.
What he didn't realize is that Streptococcus A, a bug
many of us carry harmlessly in the backs of our throats,
had invaded his bloodstream. Matthew rapidly went from cold like
symptoms to unbearable pain. In hospital. Surgeons told Diane his
(00:42):
only chance of survival was to amputate his arms and
his legs, and even then there was less than a
one percent chance that he'd live. It was up to
her to make the decision. Diane didn't hesitate, and that's
when this remarkable love story really begins. Here's Mike Willisy.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
If you were talking to someone who'd never met your dad,
never met him, never seen him, and say, what's your
dad like? What would you say?
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Awesome?
Speaker 4 (01:16):
One word awesome.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Ben, What would you say? Remember, they've never met your.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Dad spectacular, I would say, inspirational, caring, a role model.
He shows a good example, like that kind of stuff,
and I would say he's a really good dad.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
So who's got the best dad in the world.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
We should get the.
Speaker 5 (01:53):
Other way and then we're bounced back.
Speaker 6 (01:56):
Here comes baby.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
More before a common but deadly bug suddenly flooded his
body with toxins. Matthew Aams was a hands on dad.
Speaker 7 (02:24):
When I pass a mirror, you know, and see myself,
you know, I keep on almost taking sort of a
second look, going, holy crap, that guy's gotten that guy's
got no arms and legs.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Forty year old Matthew is a university graduate who was
working as an engineer for Origin Energy. He and wife
Die lived with their four children in Brisbane. Hi Matthew, Mike, Melissy,
Hi Mike.
Speaker 5 (02:57):
Great to meet you.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
I got to see you.
Speaker 5 (03:00):
I'm Die.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yeah, I know you.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Yeah, to meet you.
Speaker 8 (03:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
I've been reading so much about you guys and looking
forward to meeting you.
Speaker 5 (03:07):
It's been great. Yeah, thank you, appreciate it. So good
to meet you.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Matthew and I have been in love virtually since the
day they met. Your relationship was Die, Your sisters describe
it as something like the perfect love affair.
Speaker 5 (03:25):
So what I.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
How did it start?
Speaker 7 (03:30):
We met at university first week in UNI, so yeah.
We were friends for a while and then I went,
I know what I really like this girl.
Speaker 6 (03:41):
We were both seventeen, and within two weeks of knowing
each other, we both knew that we wanted to marry
each other. It just took another five years for it
to happen because we had to finish UNI and start
earning money.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Is it true you proposed at the top of the
Eiffel Tower?
Speaker 7 (03:57):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (03:58):
I did. Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, it was.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
That's fantastic.
Speaker 9 (04:03):
It was good.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
How strong are your memories of your wedding day?
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Oh? I would say they're pretty strong.
Speaker 5 (04:13):
Yeah, so it was.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
It was a magical day for us. End of the sun,
end of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 10 (04:37):
Love, if You're beautiful?
Speaker 2 (04:40):
You recited the words from a song.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
The depeche Mode song, Yes.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Do you remember the words?
Speaker 11 (04:47):
I do?
Speaker 3 (04:47):
That It was I found somebody to share.
Speaker 12 (04:51):
Share the rest of my life, share money and my thoughts,
no money to make deta someone who will stand by
my sol and be my support and him return.
Speaker 5 (05:12):
It's okay. Grab a tissue tissue.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Then it was beautiful. I'll so pleased you remember it.
Speaker 5 (05:21):
But much better than me.
Speaker 7 (05:24):
I got a bit of a fish memory like.
Speaker 5 (05:28):
He didn't ask me.
Speaker 6 (05:33):
Ah, I was hoping I didn't need the tishes today.
Speaker 5 (05:39):
We cried on the night too, so I did.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Yes, crying is my thing.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
And then babies followed, and there was no prouder dad
than Matthew.
Speaker 13 (06:03):
Oh okay, we'll say good everybody.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
They had three boys in quick succession. Four years later,
one more bub would join this big, happy family. Hello,
how are you, Luke?
Speaker 5 (06:29):
Great to see you. Come on in a good day.
Speaker 7 (06:34):
Hello, Benjamin say hello to Mike?
Speaker 5 (06:38):
Is behind you?
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Luke and Ben are the eldest boys.
Speaker 5 (06:44):
Good to see you. You say hi to Mike. Hello,
good to meet you.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Three year old Emily, their youngest child and their only girl.
Speaker 5 (06:54):
And we've lost one.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Where would be will be?
Speaker 5 (07:00):
Hello?
Speaker 7 (07:03):
How are you well? I can see you coming over
and say hello Mead, And behind you, this is Mike
say hi.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Will is seven years old and mining names Willow, so
we could be related. We're not related, okay. Until he
fell ill, Matthew was an active father water bombs. One
day coaching the kids cricket the next in June last year,
(07:48):
you started feeling sick. How sick did you think you were?
Speaker 7 (07:53):
I knew there was something pretty wrong with me. I mean,
being a typical AUSSI bloke, I didn't really go to
the doctor.
Speaker 5 (07:59):
Very much, and you know, I knew I was sick.
Speaker 7 (08:03):
I kind of wondered whether I had the man flew
and I was complaining a little bit too much, but
I just knew there was something wrong with me.
Speaker 6 (08:09):
Matthew was just progressively getting worse and worse, and he
was in a lot of pain, but there was nothing,
nothing that seemed to improve it.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Matthew was sick for some days and was concerned enough
to see four doctors. They were all send into bed.
Then suddenly he was struck with unbearable pain and could
not walk.
Speaker 5 (08:32):
He was brought here, got to triage.
Speaker 7 (08:36):
I put out my left arm and showed the triage
nurse my rash And apparently I was awaking for another
twelve hours after that, but my brains decided that it
doesn't want to remember anything from that point.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Do you remember the pain?
Speaker 8 (08:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (08:55):
I remember the pain, yeah, yeah. Apparently I was pumped
full of three lots of morphine. I didn't really settle
the pain.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
So yeah, then three weeks of your life disappeared.
Speaker 5 (09:06):
Yeah, now known as my beauty sleep not for your family.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Early next morning, Matthew was placed into an induced coma.
His left arm identified as the site of an infection.
Doctors operate to try to stop the spread of the toxins,
but it doesn't work. Would you say he was dying.
He was in the process of dying. Definitely.
Speaker 14 (09:29):
We were dealing with a man who was what we
call septic, I guess, with an infection that was affecting
every organ system in his body and making him extremely sick.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Matthew went into streptocockle toxic shock. Worst affected was his
left arm. Die was frantically dividing her time between his
hospital bed and caring for their children. The next day,
Matthew has his left arm taken from him, amputated high
above the elbow. Dies called back to the hospital. She
(10:03):
thinks he is dead.
Speaker 6 (10:05):
I don't know why I kept on saying it, but
I just kept saying it as I was driving the
whole time, going we can't have you go. I love you,
you need to stay here. So I was just saying
it to the era as I was driving.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
So what was your belief?
Speaker 3 (10:24):
I thought that we were losing him that night.
Speaker 15 (10:29):
We looked at his limbs on the Friday evening when
we amputated his left arm. You know, his other limbs
didn't look normal, but they didn't weren't to the point
where we thought we needed to amputate, but you could
see them then progress over the next twelve or so
hours to become essentially looking like the left had.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
The left had done so you had to proceed to
a quadruple amputation.
Speaker 14 (10:55):
Yes, yeah, how rare is that? It's very uncommon. This
is the only one I been involved with. I'm aware
of other cases, but it is uncommon. It's usually in
victims of trauma in the battlefield scenario.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
On the Saturday, just three days after Matthew's admission, his
family gathered here in the intensive care visitors room. They
were asked by the surgical team to make the most
difficult and the most unimaginable decision of their lives. And
it took them just five minutes. And then you had
(11:32):
that horrendous meeting of the family in the visitors room.
I see you, yes, and the surgeons and physicians, the
whole stack of them, came in, told you what was
happening and asked you to make a most difficult decision.
Speaker 6 (11:48):
Yes, the surgeons told us that basically this was it
unless we went ahead with the operation to amputate his
three remaining limps, because he'd already had one amputated at
that stage, and there wasn't a lot of hope that
(12:11):
he would make it through. So it was given perhaps
a less than one percent chance. And I do remember
saying to the doctors that Matthew will be the one percent.
He will be the one that can make it through.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Matthew has two older sisters, Kate and Rachel. They were
in the room with Die as the decision was taken
to amputate. What consideration did you give to the fact
that if Matthew survives against the odds, when he comes
out of this coma and out of sedation, he's going
to be told, Matthew, you have no arms and no legs.
Speaker 8 (12:46):
Look, you know that's when my sense of humor kicks
in and I was joking, well, what can he do?
Speaker 11 (12:51):
He can't punch us.
Speaker 8 (12:51):
At that point in time, you know, he really was
a way of cope.
Speaker 5 (12:59):
It was going to be away.
Speaker 8 (13:00):
See, it wasn't going to be something that we could
easily go. No, Matthew's going to be fine and perfect,
and you know there was a long journey ahead. But
with Die by his side, we would do everything that
we can to make his life and find the next solution.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
So Die being Matthew's wife in this perfect love story,
did she have more of a say in that decision
for four amputations?
Speaker 6 (13:29):
Oh?
Speaker 8 (13:29):
Absolutely absolutely, because she was the one who had to
sign the form as he's next of kin. She was
the one who had to actually tell them that the
amputations could proceed. And I think at the time she
really felt the weight of that responsibility.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
She said, making that decision about your amputations, it was
the first decision she'd made without.
Speaker 5 (13:54):
You, really big one.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Yeah, because she led that meeting.
Speaker 7 (14:02):
When I heard about that meeting, I just said today,
I just said, thank you. I would have made exactly
the same decision, and I just knew that she would
have looked after me no matter what.
Speaker 6 (14:18):
I believed in him at that stage, and I always
believe in him. I just needed everybody else to be
on board with believing in him. So I didn't want
the doctors to go into the operating theater, thinking that
it was anything other than a positive experience.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
The amputations took three hours, first the right leg, then
the left, and then while that was being done, another
surgical team started sawing off his right arm. Matthew's recovery
would be touch and go.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
That was the scariest fit in all of the hospital.
Speaker 5 (15:02):
He was in hospital.
Speaker 4 (15:05):
Yes, well when he nearly died, yes, same bit. Yes,
I remember coming in and then they said, oh, he's
going to die, and then I was like, oh, no, never,
they never said that. Yeah, they said that he might. Yeah,
(15:25):
he had a ninety nine percent chance of die and
only a one percent of living and the one present
one against the ninety nine people.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
What have you got?
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Fifteen months have passed since Matthew's arms and legs were amputated.
Was there a point for you, Well, you said, Now,
I get it. I understand the picture, I understand the reality.
Speaker 5 (16:06):
I think when I got home the first night, and ah,
I was there at.
Speaker 7 (16:15):
Home and I could realize what the new normal might be.
I think that was the time when it kind of
really sunk in.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
The most can't climb the stairs, no, I can't go
to the bathroom, No, can't clean your teeth.
Speaker 7 (16:32):
Yeah, I can't roll over in the middle of the night.
I can't blow my nose. That's a bit annoying.
Speaker 5 (16:46):
You missed it, You come on quick at it.
Speaker 6 (17:00):
I can't.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
After his amputations, Matthew was on life support and in
an induced coma for three weeks, watching over him, waiting
with him. Was his wife die? When you made that
(17:24):
terribly difficult decision in the visitors room to say yes,
amputator or limbs? Yes, you took only five minutes.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Yes.
Speaker 6 (17:38):
In my mind there was no alternative. I couldn't let
Matthew die. He he is my everything. Matthew and our
kids mean the world to me, and he is the
(18:00):
most amazing dad and he needs to be here for
the journey to guide our kids and he will be.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
What do you miss the most?
Speaker 3 (18:12):
What do I miss the most? Probably holding hands.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
When he came to three weeks later, and it was
your job to tell him what had happened, that it
wasn't the flu. You now have no arms and legs.
Do you remember what you said?
Speaker 5 (18:33):
Yes?
Speaker 11 (18:33):
I do.
Speaker 6 (18:35):
You got to the point where the doctors had done
everything that they could medically to save your life, and
there was no other way forward, and the only option
was to amputate his remaining arms and legs, and so
(18:56):
I had gone ahead with that option to you tat
his arms and legs to save his life.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
It's hard for the rest of us to get our
minds around that You've gone to hospital sick and you
wake up knowing nothing to be told you have no
arms and no legs. Now, of course you're coming out
of sedation. Did you fully understand what she was telling you?
Speaker 7 (19:23):
I can't remember exactly what she told me now, but
I do remember a couple of key things.
Speaker 5 (19:33):
I remember.
Speaker 7 (19:35):
Sitting there and listening to Die explain like a sequence
of events of what had happened and what I'd gone through,
and I just remember thinking, Okay, that makes sense. Now.
I know I was not feeling very well, and I
(19:57):
just had this overwhelming feeling, given Die was there, that
everything was going to be okay. And now I get
sad about the lost opportunities that I could.
Speaker 5 (20:13):
Have had with arms and legs.
Speaker 13 (20:17):
But with every time you see the sadness, you see
the other side of the opportunities and the fantastic the
fact that I'm here to see the kids grow up,
to help die and to grow old. It's just such
(20:39):
a blessing. The rest of it.
Speaker 5 (20:43):
Doesn't really matter, And.
Speaker 13 (20:53):
I just get a little bit sad sometimes.
Speaker 5 (20:56):
About those lost opportunities. That's it, you know, it was
just kicking a bo It's always a simple thing.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
You grieving for what you can't do is quite different
from grieving for yourself to make a blunt feeling sorry
for yourself, which would be very understandable, it would.
Speaker 7 (21:16):
It just doesn't appear to really be in me to
dwell there for very long. I mean, it still strikes
me every once in a while, not so much now.
Speaker 5 (21:31):
I think.
Speaker 7 (21:32):
You know, when my two boys, younger boys, could see
the fear in their eyes, that's when it really struck me.
And that was that same day, so when they first
saw me awake.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
You would have still been pretty hazy then, but you
still saw the fear in the boy's eyes. Strong memory.
Speaker 11 (21:54):
Ye, that are.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
You shoulders?
Speaker 4 (22:04):
Are you working on hat to put your arms out
without putting that shoulder up, So.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
You're working through.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
There's stuff that we haven't been through, what you've been through,
and nothing like it. And wearing a wedding.
Speaker 5 (22:24):
Ring, Yeah, I miss mine.
Speaker 7 (22:26):
We've talked about putting it around my neck on our
necklace and stuff like that, but I kind of the
way that I move it will get in the way,
so we haven't quite worked out myself pierced my ears.
Speaker 5 (22:36):
And stick it in there, so we'll see how we go.
And my watch.
Speaker 7 (22:40):
She gave me a watch for my twenty first birthday
and I missed that as well.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
I'll bet we all have difficulty, Matthew and understanding phantom pain.
Can you help us?
Speaker 5 (22:56):
Yeah, it's for some reason.
Speaker 7 (22:59):
It's well, for a number of reasons. It's actually worse
in my hands than my legs. It kind of feels
like my hands and arms are on fire all the time.
Speaker 5 (23:15):
My legs.
Speaker 7 (23:17):
They leave me alone most of the time, but every
once in a while I kind of get a real
shot of pain up from my foot for some strange reason.
So if I stopped talking and lose breath, that's gently
what's happened.
Speaker 5 (23:30):
So that's how it.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Feels now he has to deal with phantom pains. Yes,
what's that like? As his wife when you see that happening.
Speaker 6 (23:40):
Well, it's really hard for me to know that he's
in pain all the time.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
So it's okay, take your time.
Speaker 6 (24:01):
Okay, okay, it's just hard watching him in vain.
Speaker 11 (24:17):
There's something special about this guy. There's something in his
psychological makeup that is rare, that's a gift to him
and to the people around him. When you see someone
for the first time like Matt your heart does lurch
a little bit. You want to I feel you want
(24:37):
to help. The family were meeting me in the corridor.
Before I even got to the room. I'd had phone
calls from the intensive care guys who were sort of
transformed by this family, and from the orthpeedic session from
Tim about this situation. So there was obviously in effect
he was having on people around him, even unconscious in
a hospital bed.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
After Matthew's limbs were removed, doctor Saul Geffen took charge
of his rehabilitation. Seldom has he seen a patient with
Matthew's fighting qualities. Matthew beat virtually all the odds to survive.
But now, in your field of rehabilitation, how difficult a
(25:22):
patient was he from day one?
Speaker 11 (25:25):
Matt's one of the best professional challenges I'll ever have
in my life.
Speaker 5 (25:31):
I'll bet you couldn't hold.
Speaker 11 (25:32):
Up for ten seconds stationary?
Speaker 5 (25:34):
Yeah, you know me? So you shouldn't beat me anything.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
You ready yet?
Speaker 11 (25:41):
Undo it?
Speaker 5 (25:45):
One long stop? We're going for ten seconds?
Speaker 9 (25:52):
Two three?
Speaker 11 (26:01):
Yeah, I'm I'm.
Speaker 13 (26:02):
Wrong, Damn you, Matthew Adams. Give the man a goalie
gives it.
Speaker 11 (26:10):
It has been an honor and a privilege to work
with this guy because I wouldn't have the grace and
courage he displayed, and he's displayed from day one.
Speaker 9 (26:28):
Third of firm.
Speaker 5 (26:47):
Thanks.
Speaker 9 (26:48):
Okay, everything looks where it should be.
Speaker 5 (26:50):
Thank you. Does it feel okay?
Speaker 9 (26:52):
Yep? Yep?
Speaker 11 (26:56):
Nice?
Speaker 16 (26:57):
Nice good? Matt good, Okay, get your arms moving.
Speaker 11 (27:21):
When you see someone like Matt for the first time,
For many people who are not used to disability and
disfiguring disabilities, it's very confronting.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Yeah, it seems there are people who are simply uncomfortable
when confronted with disability.
Speaker 6 (27:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (27:38):
I think for me, guys are harder than meeting a guys,
harder than meeting a girl because girls will kind of
give you a cuddle or a kiss and that's okay,
whereas guys go to shake your hand and then they.
Speaker 5 (27:51):
Kind of go, holy crap, what do I do?
Speaker 7 (27:54):
And you can see it in their eyes, So you know,
most of the time when I get an opportunity, I
kind of go shake my stump.
Speaker 5 (28:00):
It's what I've got left.
Speaker 9 (28:09):
Mm hmm w h.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
Yeah, we've seen him in the gym at rehab. Yes,
he really goes for it, doesn't he He does.
Speaker 11 (28:31):
Stair hasn't got a new note mat Matthew.
Speaker 6 (28:34):
He's amazing because he keeps pushing forward all the time.
Speaker 16 (28:40):
And I haven't done this little before, so this is
I haven't touched him.
Speaker 15 (28:44):
This son is going to be easy to flop on off.
Speaker 5 (28:47):
Take your time, don't.
Speaker 17 (28:48):
Rush, get set, good set, great control. It's well done,
(29:10):
well done, awesome top of Mount Matthew.
Speaker 11 (29:15):
Seriously, I'm going to get some graffiti on this.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
What do you think would stop him from this incredible
ability to stay up and positive? What would it take
to stop him?
Speaker 6 (29:32):
M to not have the family there? The family means
everything to Matthew. He's doing this all for us, for
us at all, to be together.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Whose birthday party is it today? And last year you
had a birthday party too when you turn nine?
Speaker 7 (29:52):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (29:52):
And what was the big surprise?
Speaker 4 (29:54):
The Laddy Daddy came home for the first time and
it was only a week out of intensive care and
I was like to mum or the one thing I'd
really luck for my birthdays for him to come home.
And I got it a bit well. He got out
of intensive care.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
For two hours, so.
Speaker 4 (30:21):
At one of the best things that ever.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Happened to me.
Speaker 7 (30:25):
I remember being a bit apprehensive. I still wasn't feeling
very well and looking back down, I didn't look very well.
But I remember just thinking this is going to be
a bit hard. But I just wanted to be there
for Luke's birthday. I wanted to get home for so
long and just out of intensive care, I just needed
(30:49):
something to hang on to. So just to be home
and see home again was just amazing and grateful.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Luke.
Speaker 7 (30:55):
Oh yeah, it was just to see the smile on
his face when he walked down. It was amazing you.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
Oh nice party.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
It would be eight months before Matthew was well enough
to come home for good. When he was in his
coma die kept a diary for him to read when
he woke. Has Matthew seen this?
Speaker 3 (31:38):
Yeah he has.
Speaker 5 (31:39):
Yeah, I fear while ago so well.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
I just read it to Matthew.
Speaker 6 (31:49):
Look summed up how he felt the other night when
he said it doesn't matter whether Daddy has arms or legs.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
It's what's on the inside that counts. And that's so true.
Speaker 6 (32:02):
There have been times when you've been in hospital and
now I thought that I just need to speak to you.
You are my rock, You are my everything. Without being
able to talk to you, life has been unbearable. I
(32:25):
know that the reality of what you're facing may seem
hard to some, but not to you. In the days
that it is hard, I am here to be your rock.
I will always be here for you. I love you
now more than I've ever loved you.
Speaker 5 (32:45):
You are my soulmate. I love you too. You do
(33:08):
you first.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
That's what she always does, This love affair with Die,
which has emerged in the story very strong for more
than twenty years and unchanged. She's not, in fact, strengthened
by this trauma. How important is that?
Speaker 11 (33:27):
I would only hope for a partner like that for everybody,
because you know, the marriage vowse said health and sickness,
good times and bad, and she's done that. So yeah,
it's an amazing I get emotional about. Sorry, it does
(33:50):
it touches you? It really doesn't. I hope it touches
the people watching Morning.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
Daddy, Hi Hanning Morning.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
How are you give us the day to day routine.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
Oh, the day to day routine now.
Speaker 7 (34:06):
So we get waken up generally by the front door
plus six in the morning. So somebody comes into to
help me get ready, because with four kids, if we
kind of waited till I was ready until level the
kids were done, and I got some help a bit
about midday. So so we get a bit of help
in the morning for a couple hours. So someone comes
(34:27):
into to wake me up and get me out of bed,
gets me showered, shaved, brush teeth and all that kind
of stuff.
Speaker 6 (34:42):
Luke, sweatie, do you want to practice out?
Speaker 5 (34:48):
And I right you so you can get the breakfast.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
Finish first, Matthew feeds himself with a three thousand dollars
English invention called the Nita eater eighty four.
Speaker 5 (35:00):
You might put it. Need to put some things onto
your spoon. That's it, let's.
Speaker 7 (35:08):
Go, It's okay, ready, okay, stay together, stay together, okay.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
He takes the boys to taekwondo Hello. In fact, as
much as he can. Matthew tries to lead as normal,
alive as possible.
Speaker 7 (35:31):
Production Ready, Okay, go for it. What is your straw?
Speaker 2 (35:39):
Got you go?
Speaker 18 (36:00):
You look hot?
Speaker 3 (36:01):
You look fantastic.
Speaker 9 (36:13):
Who you want for me?
Speaker 2 (36:17):
But this is not where the story ends. It's just beginning.
Soon Matthew will be the first Australian to get four
bionic limbs.
Speaker 3 (36:27):
It will change his life.
Speaker 5 (36:29):
I'll be driving in five years.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
Matthew and I have always loved to dance. Even today,
that hasn't changed. They're doing their best to keep things normal,
but a lot has changed. What do you miss the most?
Speaker 3 (36:54):
Probably holding hands. It's it's hard because.
Speaker 6 (37:01):
That's that's just one of the things that you do
as a couple. You know, you go out and so
much revolves around you know, you touch each other on
your hands or.
Speaker 3 (37:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (37:19):
So and he had beautiful hands to I loved cuddling
his hands. His hands were huge, And it's always felt
felt like a safe place when you were holding Matthew's hands,
when I was holding Matthew's hands.
Speaker 3 (37:32):
So yeah, so.
Speaker 5 (37:36):
We better say goodbye here.
Speaker 6 (37:37):
Okay, all right?
Speaker 5 (37:39):
Love you?
Speaker 8 (37:42):
Oh you might.
Speaker 5 (37:46):
Squeeze cut.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
To lose the ability to hold or to walk is huge,
But for Matthew, there's hope.
Speaker 11 (37:55):
Matthew needs limbs to do everything other than hop around
or waddle on his bottom. So the system that we're
trying to get for Matthew involves very expensive processes because
they're gold standard, they're the best that's available.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
Bionic limbs half a million dollars worth. On Tuesday, Matthew
and I flew from Brisbane to Melbourne for an operation
to prepare him for his new limbs.
Speaker 5 (38:28):
How are you good to see it?
Speaker 2 (38:29):
The leaders of the surgical team have given their time
for free. They're astounded Matthew even lived. How often would
you see a patient who requires for amputations and survive?
Speaker 5 (38:44):
Never seen it?
Speaker 2 (38:45):
Never seen it? No, is he the first trying this
new technology.
Speaker 5 (38:51):
Yes, he's the first quadruple amputee.
Speaker 11 (38:54):
The thing that's going to change for them in the
near future is these techniques that we're going to do,
which will leave metal rods protruding from all of his limbs. Now,
the metal rods are about this long and they have
a square peg on the end, and that's how the
new limbs are going to attach to his body.
Speaker 2 (39:15):
This is how Matthew's bionic limbs will operate. Electrodes implanted
in the nerves and muscles in his stumps will send
signals from his brain, making his hands move. And you're
on the way to being a bionic man.
Speaker 5 (39:33):
Ah, yeah, it looks like it.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
That's not bad man. One more surgery, one more risk,
one more piece of metal implanted. It's one step closer
to mobility, one step closer to self care, and one
giant step forward for Matthew. Matthew's surgery takes three and
(40:05):
a half hours, and Die lives every minute of it.
It all goes well, you.
Speaker 10 (40:19):
Look great, Yeah, honeymoon period for the more families of
the support of Die and his family and friends has
been absolutely critical to getting him through.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
You any help, yes, But it's also prompted great reflection
as Matthew comes to terms with, in his words, his
new normal.
Speaker 7 (40:43):
I kind of know that those around me are picking
up the load for the things that I used to do.
I think as a guy, you know, I kind of
had a sense of identity that was pretty strongly incorporated
of my work and my role in the house and
you know, fixing things, and you know, I got a workshop,
(41:05):
and you know that kind of stuff. You know, even
you know you got to write on you if you
join Twitter, you got to write your twenty twenty character
or twenty word description of yourself. Mine still blank, because
I haven't really worked out how do I describe myself?
Speaker 5 (41:20):
And that's kind of an ongoing journey.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
Do you want to have a crack at that self description?
Speaker 3 (41:24):
Now?
Speaker 7 (41:26):
Yeah, I've kind of worked at some of it. Harry
tried to recall what he had been dreaming about. I
think how I describe myself now would be a husband.
Speaker 9 (41:36):
A dad.
Speaker 7 (41:37):
He concentrated hard, frowning, trying to remember. The dim picture
of a darkened room.
Speaker 5 (41:42):
Came to him. A son and brother and friend.
Speaker 7 (41:48):
And for me, that starting just with that description is
probably different to the way I would have done it before.
Speaker 5 (41:57):
Relationships have become much more important to me.
Speaker 7 (42:01):
I probably put on there I'm an engineer, you still am,
and we'll probably get back at that.
Speaker 5 (42:08):
I might put in there towards the end, you know.
Speaker 7 (42:09):
And by the way, I've got no limbs, you know,
But that's kind of towards the end of the description,
a few other dots to be filled in.
Speaker 5 (42:20):
So so I think that's where I'm at at the moment.
Speaker 18 (42:28):
Hello, good Matthew, how you doing.
Speaker 5 (42:44):
Hi great, how are you going?
Speaker 19 (42:45):
Really good? Great to meet you, great, Thanks for the opportunity,
really looking forward to it.
Speaker 5 (42:49):
Yeah, thanks for coming and see just this.
Speaker 1 (42:51):
Way in the transformation of Matthew Aimes from quadruple amputee
to bionic man. There has been no bigger day than
the He's both nervous and excited about what's inside the
silver box called a Michelangelo hand. It's made in Germany,
(43:13):
made to look and work like a human hand.
Speaker 19 (43:17):
All right, mathink, I plugging the batteries into the hand,
which will give us external power.
Speaker 5 (43:22):
Yep, excellent, and that will.
Speaker 19 (43:24):
Help us make use of the signals within your arm.
Speaker 1 (43:30):
This is how it works. When muscles in what remains
of the arm are flexed, signals are sent along wires
that switch on tiny electric motors and bring the hand
to life. But until today's test, no one knows whether
Matthew has enough muscle control left to operate the bionic system.
Speaker 19 (43:53):
So what I'm looking for is the muscle bellies.
Speaker 7 (43:57):
You know, I lost a fair bit of muscle when
I was in my coma, so you know it's going
to take me a while to get a lot of
that muscle back again.
Speaker 5 (44:07):
I used to be a two finger typer.
Speaker 1 (44:09):
Before the test, Matthew googled the bionic hands. They cost
around one hundred thousand dollars each and if all goes well,
should give him remarkable control and strength.
Speaker 5 (44:21):
Are you able to do a contraction for me? And relax?
Speaker 1 (44:25):
But the initial signs for Matthew were mixed, and he
was worried.
Speaker 7 (44:30):
All of the testing that I'd had showed that I
had one of my four muscles that I can predominantly
use was a strong signal, and the other ones were
quite weakned I had come to terms with the fact
that I may not be able to drive the bionics.
Speaker 19 (44:51):
Well, okay, and again and relax again, that's actually really good.
What we wanted to do is.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
I didn't think I get I try set so.
Speaker 3 (45:05):
Well.
Speaker 5 (45:06):
I've been trying billing hard.
Speaker 19 (45:08):
From both of those sites, it looks like we'll be
able to get functional control.
Speaker 1 (45:12):
It's a great start, but the critical part is yet
to come. After the wires are connected to the bionic
hand itself instead of the computer, Matthew faces his moment
of truth.
Speaker 19 (45:26):
So let's start with a signal to close the hand,
which would be one of your TRICEP contractions. Great, and
now try a BICT contraction to open the hand and
try the tricep to close it. Great, confect excellent, fantastic.
Speaker 5 (45:55):
Come a way, it's quite easy.
Speaker 19 (46:04):
Close great, and close it slowly.
Speaker 9 (46:16):
Great.
Speaker 1 (46:17):
His bionic hand breakthrough happened on a day that's special
to him for another reason.
Speaker 3 (46:24):
Got a did you do it? Awesome?
Speaker 1 (46:29):
It's Matthew and Die's nineteenth wedding anniversary. At dinner that night,
Matthew breaks the news that he has been desperate to
tell Die all day.
Speaker 6 (46:39):
So you wanted to tell me how you went today?
Speaker 7 (46:42):
Oh yeah, so it was fantastic.
Speaker 5 (46:47):
Pretty excited?
Speaker 7 (46:52):
So yeah, fantastic.
Speaker 6 (46:54):
So I burst into tears when Matthew told me about
it because I was so excited for him and for
us that that his body can operate his prosthetic arm.
Thanks beautiful, I love you to the gorgeous.
Speaker 7 (47:24):
We could play a.
Speaker 6 (47:28):
Raver.
Speaker 2 (47:29):
So how do you see him in four or five
years time?
Speaker 4 (47:36):
A legend
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