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00:16Hi, six years ago we brought you the remarkable story of Ghanim El Shnen. At the time he was
00:23testing the boundaries of bionic medicine after a catastrophic accident while simultaneously
00:30fighting to be reunited with his family who were on the other side of the world.
00:35That story prompted a massive outpouring of support for Ghanim,
00:39and so we thought you might be interested to know how things worked out for him.
00:51My story and what happened to me, I need at least a thousand books to fill out.
00:59I don't think anyone could get through what he's got through without some scars.
01:05He just kept getting hit down day after day after day for years.
01:12I'm okay, I'm fine, I'm still alive, and I can prove myself that these things never change me,
01:19or never make me weak.
01:23Yes, I had a lot of challenges, very difficult time, but I never lost hope. I'm always believing hope.
01:32In the end, I got what I want. My dream become true.
01:55Ghanim's case is very unique in many aspects. Today is the 29th?
02:01It is a highly complex procedure and extremely severe.
02:07So your name, Ghanim El-Chinan, correct? Your date of birth is 1st of July 1982, 36 years old.
02:18This kind of surgery is not just intensive from the technical point of view. It requires
02:25significant commitment, significant positive attitude.
02:28I'll look after you. Take care.
02:30Yeah.
02:31Okay.
02:32It's a long surgery, it's a big surgery, but I'm very optimistic.
02:52Ghanim was a labourer working across various building sites across Sydney.
03:00So on November 6, 2018, he was working on a low-rise apartment building, and the job was almost done,
03:06so he was working on the top floor.
03:11The job changed my life. This job sign, it's very hard, and even I can't watch the building.
03:19I'll never be even in this area again.
03:23The job he was supposed to be doing was placing steel reinforcement bars into the the wall cavity
03:28of this work site.
03:32When I start to put the bars inside the wall, that's all what I remember.
03:39My understanding that Ghanim was holding a metal bar,
03:44and somehow that metal bar have touched a life wire.
03:52He's essentially had a huge electric shock, and he's lucky to be alive.
03:57There tends to be an entry point and an exit point for high-voltage electricity.
04:03So I think he's conducted through both hands. Through the left, he's conducted across his chest.
04:09He's conducted up his right arm. It's blown out the back of his shoulder.
04:19He was brought to our intensive care unit.
04:23He was stable, but he had a large amount of dead tissue on him,
04:29and I didn't think his hands were viable.
04:34I was crying that time.
04:38And I talked to the doctor, please do anything, don't cut my arms.
04:44It was really hard to tell him that he was going to lose both hands,
04:49because that's a slow thing to process for people. It's an intimate thing. You can't feed yourself.
04:55You can't wipe your own bottom. You are reliant on other human beings then.
05:00You have two choices. Give up or be positive and looking forward.
05:12Yes, I lost my arms, but I'm still alive.
05:25He had six operations here at Concord.
05:28So good to see you.
05:29You got a bag.
05:29You got a bag.
05:31And he was here for three months.
05:36Welcome back.
05:38How are you?
05:40Good to see you.
05:41Good to see you.
05:42One of the biggest jobs when you first got here was crowd control.
05:47That's for sure.
05:47We had a sea of people outside ICU.
05:50And then your clever day when you worked out that you could use your great toe
05:54to use a mouse on the floor.
05:56I remember walking in that day and went,
05:59he's going to be just fine.
06:04I don't think Gannon would be here if he didn't have a positive attitude.
06:13Ganim was from southern Iraq.
06:15He had a wife and three young boys and he was working as a policeman.
06:19It was in 2012.
06:22So there is no trust in that time.
06:24Part of Ganim's role was to take notes and prepare reports as part of interrogations.
06:32When a militia commander was captured and questioned,
06:35Ganim was asked to change the report.
06:38I said to him, I'm not going to do this.
06:40This is wrong and this is a mistake.
06:44He said, you will do it.
06:47After Ganim refused to change the report and the commander was sentenced,
06:52he was threatened that there would be retribution for this.
06:57A bomb was put into his car.
07:00And if it wasn't for his son, Ali, Ganim probably wouldn't be here today.
07:08My son Ali called me.
07:10He said, Dad, you forgot your phone.
07:14When I back up to back up my phone,
07:16the car exploded.
07:22I never forget that time.
07:25My son saved me.
07:32Ganim knew pretty quickly that he had to get out of Iraq.
07:35But he knew it was too dangerous to take his family with him.
07:39So he resettled them in another area and he began his journey to Australia with the promise
07:46to his family that he would get them there as soon as he could.
07:49It was very hard.
07:53It's really hard when you make a decision to leave your family without no choice.
08:06Ganim made his way to Indonesia where he got on a leaky fishing boat.
08:13He arrived at Christmas Island September the 5th in 2012.
08:17Only weeks before Ganim's arrival, the government changed its policies on refugees.
08:22So Ganim was sent to Nauru.
08:25It was the mental health conditions that were what made Nauru so difficult.
08:32You wake up one morning, you find someone hanging himself, someone killing himself.
08:42And he was in the hospital.
08:43Eventually the men were offered an opportunity to relocate to Australia
08:47as long as they signed a document that said they would restart their processing.
08:53Ganim unfortunately signed that document.
08:56It's not a permanent protection visa.
09:00It would mean that he could never bring his family here to be with him.
09:04We don't have any choice. We have to.
09:14Ganim was released into the community on a bridging visa.
09:18I moved to Sydney in 2014.
09:21The group of Iraqi men with whom Ganim was a part of, they seemed to settle reasonably well.
09:26And a lot of them found work as carpenters and in the kind of construction work and in trades.
09:32It was a very, very nice life.
09:35But only one thing.
09:37It's make me keep thinking.
09:40My family to be here.
09:43Ganim knew he had to get his family out of Iraq.
09:46And he managed to get them to safety in Finland where they were welcomed as refugees.
09:53That day it was really make me really happy and my family safe.
10:03It was in early 2017 when Ganim finally had his interview
10:08to see if he'd be accepted as a refugee and given a protection visa.
10:12I got refused. Then we sent the letter again. And again I get refused.
10:18After the appeal was refused, his only avenue was the Federal Circuit Court.
10:25My hearing with the Federal Court set down for November 15.
10:30But then the accident happened 6 November. And everything changed.
10:47So this arm is functional. As you can see, you can move it.
10:52Munjid took over Ganim's care in January and he moved him to Macquarie Hospital.
10:59That's good. Good range, which is good.
11:01He then went through another round of surgery to prepare him for the osteointegration surgery.
11:08Osteointegration simply means joining or integrating with the bone.
11:13So it's a connection of an implant with the living bone.
11:17So this is the implant.
11:19There are lots of things to learn. We are putting metal into bone that crosses skin.
11:26And sure, there are cases where it can become complicated.
11:30X-ray.
11:31It's great to have new technology.
11:34But it's got to be the patient that says this is worth it.
11:38I might be able to refashion all of this scar.
11:42Ganim's is a highly complex procedure and preserve your function.
11:46Because of the electric burn, because of the nature, it's bilateral.
11:51Because it's below the elbow.
11:52Are they sensitive?
11:54Do you have sensitive?
11:56Do you have sensitive?
11:56Yeah.
11:57Do you have sensitive?
11:57Do you have sensitive?
11:59Okay.
12:03Munjid was encouraging Ganim to get his operations done as quickly as possible.
12:09But there was no way that Ganim was going to have any significant operations
12:15without having his family by his side.
12:20To not see my family for seven years is very hard.
12:24Because the life without your family, nothing.
12:31He got some advice in terms of getting the family over here to Australia.
12:38It was a battle.
12:46I was really very close to lose my hope.
12:53Tell when my lawyer, she's coming to my, to the hospital.
12:58And she said, your family gets approved for a visa to come into Australia.
13:10Maybe I was screaming to be like very excited.
13:15I make all Macquarie Hospital wake up.
13:20I was asked by Ganim to take him to the airport to pick up the family.
13:27When I arrive, I try as much I can to control my breathing, my heart, my, I can't.
13:38And then suddenly we heard this little voice.
13:41And it was Ali, his eldest son.
13:45He say, Baba.
13:49I go straight away to the end.
13:53And I sit on the floor to hug him.
13:58Then my wife, then the twins again.
14:15That time I feel like just like my life, real life just start now.
14:23When I hugged my family, it was like, I hug everything in the life.
14:29I have everything.
14:32The visitor's visa only allowed the family to stay three months.
14:43Now my family next to me, I will go with a smile and my eyes closed.
14:50I'm going to go with a smile and my eyes closed.
14:51I'm going to go with my eyes closed.
14:54Two teams work on each arm separately and it will take possibly ten hours.
15:04The left side involves insertion of high tensile strength titanium implants
15:08into the residual bone and connecting these implants into a robotic arm.
15:14The way that that arm is made to work is that the electrodes and software in the arm
15:22can read tiny twitches in the muscles in the remaining arm to open and close the hand.
15:33The right arm is a lot more complex, so we had to go above the elbow.
15:39We have to utilise muscles that are normally not functioning to operate a finger and regroup them
15:47in order to operate the finger again.
15:52Though it's a completely different procedure and maybe ten hundred times more complex,
15:59it's the same philosophy.
16:01He thinks about moving his thumb and the thumb will move.
16:06Everything went according to the plan.
16:08It went very well.
16:12That's good.
16:13Yeah.
16:35After the operation, he threw himself into this rehabilitation process.
16:40So we had weights on his arms to build up the muscles in his biceps,
16:44so he could eventually have the robotic arms attached to them.
16:56And the good thing, Ali, my son, he knows how he changed all the screws for my hand.
17:05And tell me for to do the loading.
17:10I started to play soccer with my kids.
17:13And I was really enjoying it and I'm happy.
17:16Even I don't want to see anyone, just I want to stay like with my kids.
17:21I can't say disabled because I'm not disabled with my family.
17:24Not.
17:26There is only one thing that's really hurting me.
17:30I wish my hand there is to hook them like a problem.
17:34But I believe that always what's happening, there is reason behind.
17:39The reason is I lost my arms to see my family after seven years.
17:52So a lot of people started to hear about Garnham's story,
17:54and Troy convinced Garnham to run in the city surf together with him.
17:59Three, two, one.
18:04I just thought he still has his legs and what can we do in terms of him making a bit
18:09of a statement.
18:10And he was just like, I'm there, I'm going to do it.
18:13Go Garnham.
18:15Everyone, when they saw me, they were really happy and excited.
18:22Some people, they give me some support.
18:25Good on you, mate. Keep going.
18:33You did so well.
18:35Yes, I'm going to keep continuing doing well.
18:38The incredible thing about that day was at the end of it,
18:42Garnham had to say goodbye to his family.
18:48He said waking up the next morning was one of his most horrific moments that he can remember.
18:56Don't know how he did it. I mean, how do you go into a house that was full of laughter
19:00and children and noise to nothing?
19:06It was a very difficult time for him.
19:10He was not in a good spot after they left.
19:12It was quite noticeable.
19:21Have a sip here, Garnham.
19:23After weeks of pretty intense physio, Garnham was ready to try out the robotic arms.
19:30And I think there was a lot of excitement but a lot of nerves around whether he would be able
19:35to use them,
19:36how they would function.
19:37Very good.
19:39And we'll plug you in.
19:42I tell you the truth, the first time I was a little bit nervous.
19:45Up here on Garnham, we have a custom-made cuff that houses eight pairs of electrodes that pick up the
19:53muscle movement
19:53that Garnham performs.
19:55The software allows us to assign those EMG patterns to certain movements on the wrist and on the hand.
20:03So if Garnham thinks about moving his arm down and activates the muscles in his arm,
20:11that used to do that when he still had a hand, we should see the hand moving down.
20:15Maybe you can do that, Garnham.
20:20Excellent.
20:22When he asked me, open your hand, actually, when I open my hand, I use my old hand, you know?
20:30That's the nerve is still working.
20:31So just I feel it.
20:33I open my hand.
20:35So I'll get you to open your hand.
20:39Excellent.
20:40And just close on this bag.
20:42Mentally, it is very exhausting for Garnham to learn all these movements.
20:48And you can hold it like that.
20:50And just operating a prosthetic arm is mentally extremely fatiguing.
20:57Usually when I finish from the training,
21:02straight away I go to bed, like, about two hours to get a wrist.
21:06You feel thirsty?
21:07Good?
21:07Have some water.
21:13So far, Garnham has proven to us that whatever you throw at him, he will work with.
21:17And he exceeded all our expectations.
21:25We're running out of water.
21:26It's what's amazing.
21:27It's the first time I drink water by myself.
21:36And also, I eaten chocolate.
21:42That's okay.
21:43Get the wrist.
21:44You can rest as well if you want.
21:48Can you reach the back of your teeth?
21:51I'm really, I'm very happy and excited to use my hand normally again.
21:55And I feel I'm very close to using it like normal.
21:58Yeah.
22:01All what I need, just to be in one place and safe and simple with my family.
22:10High five.
22:13I still have hope.
22:15I never lost my hope.
22:19If I lost my hope, I'm not here right now.
22:29I've been in limbo for a long time.
22:36Since the last five years, I have nothing to know what's gonna happen.
22:44Did I will get a visa or no?
22:50Ghanim's best chance of staying in Australia was a permanent residency visa.
22:55And, you know, he'd always been given the confidence that there was going to be some
23:00kind of intervention at a ministerial level, given the unique circumstances that applied to him.
23:09I received a call from my case manager in the immigration department and he said,
23:16are you ready to come to the office Monday?
23:21I went to the office and that guy is coming down and he said,
23:26congratulations Ghanim, you've become a permanent resident.
23:29Oh my God.
23:33I can't describe any words.
23:37I'm allowed to get in a passport.
23:39You're allowed to apply sponsor for your family.
23:43And I did this straight away.
23:47The family, they got a residency in Australia and I start preparing all the furniture for them.
23:54I'm very excited.
23:56Finally, they will live with me forever.
23:59So, I try to do my best.
24:02It's a short time.
24:09Excited.
24:11I find the house.
24:16Usually in our culture, like most of this stuff, the wife done this.
24:20But I already spoken to her and I said, please leave me enjoy this time.
24:26Even if you need to change anything, I don't care.
24:29It's fine.
24:30Leave me enjoy this a moment.
24:32I haven't got this feeling almost 12 years.
24:38All right, Jörg, this is the dining table, okay?
24:43We will have all love us together in one table.
24:50It's never happened before, okay?
24:54I will sit in here, my wife and all my lovely boys around us.
25:01It's amazing.
25:03It's really amazing.
25:07Ghanim's arms, whilst they're incredible technology, his robotic arms are extremely
25:12heavy and more recently he's been given a pair of synthetic arms which are a lot lighter.
25:23And how are things going?
25:26Everything's going well, but only I have a little bit of a problem with the right arms.
25:31Still completing all the weights.
25:33It's heavy.
25:34It's too heavy.
25:35Yeah.
25:35Should we just check out if the left one is working since I put the new battery in?
25:41Yeah.
25:41And then have a look at this one as well?
25:43Oh, okay.
25:44All right, you tell me when it's in.
25:46One, two, three, that's it.
25:48Okay, that's it.
25:48Okay.
25:49So the left arm was fitted in 2019 and that's working quite well.
26:00The battery seems to be working, that's a good thing.
26:04The right one we started working on, it took a bit longer in 2020.
26:08It's obviously a lot more complex with a shorter amputation level.
26:15We've discussed a few of the challenges, particularly around the right arm with Ganim and the main
26:22hurdles currently are the weight and just the cognitive energy that is required for Ganim to
26:28control the right arm.
26:30So we're thinking of simplifying the setup.
26:34There's always a lot of learning and Ganim is very open to anything that can help him get more function.
26:53When we arrived at the airport, I saw my dad, so I left all the packages and everything.
26:59I ran to my dad and hugged him.
27:02My mom told us, don't run.
27:04Yousef will go first to hug his dad.
27:07When Yousef finished, we ran to our dad and hugged him.
27:13This is a very incredible result.
27:17My family and I in one place.
27:28Waking up knowing that his wife and his boys in the same house as him, it was like the start
27:33of a new life for Ganim.
27:37They understand finally this is true.
27:40They will live in with the father forever.
27:42Let's have a food.
27:46What are you feeling when you move to level two?
27:50Feeling that it's so easy.
27:52I don't think you are going to have any problems in learning.
27:57Yeah, I'm okay with it to be in Australia.
28:00I was a little bit nervous at first, but now it's okay for me.
28:06In school, everything is so easy that I'm getting full marks and everything.
28:12Ganim's kids can already speak three or four languages.
28:16They're outgoing kids.
28:18And if they've got any sense of Ganim's character and resourcefulness, they're going to be just fine.
28:30We don't care where we need to be.
28:32We need to just be together.
28:34He's a strong man and never back down, never walk, never give up.
28:41Most of the people who are really close to me, when I lose in my both arms, they thought like,
28:45I'm gone.
28:46That's it.
28:47The life ends.
28:49It's very important for me to never think what you have lost.
28:58Always you're thinking what you have achieved.
29:03My advice to everyone, if something happened in your life,
29:09This is not the end.
29:11Find out how you fix it.
29:13Find out how you're working on it.
29:16Believe yourself as much as you can.
29:18Don't feel them down.
29:19And believe me, one day, all your dreams will become true.
29:32Slowing on your break and then easing around.
29:35Yeah, on your break.
29:36Once again, we're going to get that downhill run.
29:38I'm ganim, Ali.
29:40I'm driving over.
29:42I just need to take the balance of the steering, you know?
29:53I'll see you right now.
30:01You
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