Australian man set to become the world’s first ‘bionic man’

After a rare illness caused a man to have both his arms and legs amputated, he is about to get them back again with the help of science.

Matthew Ames had all four limbs amputated in June 2012 after contracting toxic shock syndrome, which almost took his life.

His wife Diane was told that if Matthew were to stand any chance of survival, they would have to amputate both his arms and his legs. She told them to proceed with the operation. It was a first of its kind for the hospital – and he survived.

The Brisbane father-of-four has now had rods implanted into the bones of all limbs to prepare his body for the bionics that will be fitted to them – making him the worlds first 'bionic man'.

As there was not enough left of his limbs for conventional prosthetics to work properly and so he has been fitted with steel implants into his bone, also called 'training arms' and 'stubbie' legs, which protrude through his skin, and to which bionic hands will eventually be fitted.

The process, called osseointegration, involves two surgeries on each limb. In the first, an implant is placed inside his bone, which sits there for six months to allow the bone to grow around it. During the second stage, a bolt is fitted to the implant that protrudes through the skin.

He is the first man to have undergone osseointegration of all four limbs and is currently six to 12 months away from having what he calls 'whizz bang bionics' fitted to the bolts, which include bionic hands that he can operate by flexing his biceps and triceps.

'There are some things that are a bit easier for me to do – I can turn a page of a book, it's a bit easier for me to help with their homework because I can kind of point to what I'm talking about, I can kind of cuddle them a little bit but they complain that my arms are a bit cold in winter, just some simple things, which is nice,' he told [www.dailymail.com.au|Daily Mail Australia].

'A couple of days ago I was instructing one of my sons how to tie a tie, I did it last year with my eldest son and trying to do it without pointing is very difficult, this time I could point to which bit he needed to do.'

The prosthetics cost half a million dollars – $150,000 for each arm and $100,000 for each leg and Matthew is required to replace these every six years.

'Because my case if very complex, I need to get the most complex prosthetics,' he said.

To fund the surgeries, the couple started the Renovating Matthew Foundation, and was overwhelmed with the response from the community, receiving enough donations to pay their medical costs for the next 10 years.

'We didn't expect anything near the response we've had. We're very lucky,' said Matthew.

Matthew, a former energy and resource executive, said that the overwhelming response they had from the community – which included 65 local families joining a food roster to supply them with meals after his first diagnosis – was part of what inspired him and Diane to write a book.

'It was a pretty difficult decision to open up with that level of detail. But I think the experience we had with the community and the consistent feedback we got about how our story had helped others, we wanted to help other people,' he said.

'Out of something disastrous or something tragic, there's been some good that's come out of it and if we can share that with other people, if people take something positive from it, that would be great,' said Diane.

Daily News Bulletin