Yahya 'the boy without a face' returns home
ALEX CULLEN: Now to the amazing lifesaving transformation of a little boy, all thanks to a team of brilliant doctors from Melbourne and a determined woman who wanted him to have a chance at a normal life. Yahya was born in Morocco without something most of us take for granted - a face. We followed his story from the moment he left his home to come to Australia, where surgeons set about doing what most would have thought impossible. Now Yahya is ready to go home, and he surprised everyone with some farewell words - his first. Here's Dr Andrew Rochford with our final chapter.
FATIMA: I'm incredibly happy that I will be taking Yahya home to his family.
FATIMA: Going home to your family! (LAUGHS)
ANDREW ROCHFORD: After almost two years in Australia, Yahya El Jabaly is finally going home.
FATIMA: There's a lot of mixed emotions for all of us. I'm feeling terribly sad because I know I'm gonna say goodbye to him very soon.
ANDREW ROCHFORD: The little boy from Morocco doesn't need a swag of Aussie keepsakes for his homecoming. He's wearing a permanent souvenir - a brand-new face. This is Yahya today. This is what he looked like before surgery.
PROFESSOR TONY HOLMES: I don't think anyone who has got a major facial deformity, especially one that's grotesque, really has much chance in this world.
ANDREW ROCHFORD: When Yahya was born, whole sections of his face and skull had failed to fuse, leaving him without a nose, mouth and eyes. Unable to see, unable to speak. Most babies would not have survived.
PROFESSOR TONY HOLMES: His risk of getting infection and meningitis, which would have been fatal, was particularly high. So to survive for so long without that happening was very lucky.
ANDREW ROCHFORD: The flight home for Yahya is a small, final step in an incredible journey for a brave little boy. When we first met Yahya, his appearance was so confronting, his mum and dad would not take him out unless he was covered up. His only friend was Heba, a little girl next door who didn't seem to care that he was different.
YAHYA: (GRUNTS PLAYFULLY)
ANDREW ROCHFORD: Melbourne-based Moroccan Fatima Baraka found a post about Yahya on Facebook and made it her mission to give him a chance at a better life.
FATIMA: There was a big phone number in red. It was quite obvious that it was a cry for help of some sort and I found myself reaching for the phone and dialling the number. Fatima persuaded renowned plastic reconstructive surgeon Tony Holmes at Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne to give Yahya a face and a future.
PROFESSOR TONY HOLMES: The risks, we could understand. The benefits, we could understand. And the benefits far outweighed the risks.
(BEEPING)
ANDREW ROCHFORD: The most painstaking work involved a neurosurgeon separating Yahya's brain from his skull.
PROFESSOR TONY HOLMES: So, this is the delicate part of the operation, is getting the brain separate from all of this cleft and sealed up.
FATIMA: (CRIES)
PROFESSOR TONY HOLMES: So, everyone is sort of... just a bit anxious at the moment.
ANDREW ROCHFORD: The high-risk surgery realigned deformed facial bones and built Yahya a new nose and mouth. The operation was scheduled to take eight hours. It took 18. The result was stunning.
PROFESSOR TONY HOLMES: We all love it. When you see the success, the feedback is fantastic. You start with something, you build it and you come to a finished product.
YAHYA: (GIGGLES)
ANDREW ROCHFORD: Even though the big operation was a success, there was still work to do before Yahya could go home. So, eight months after the first surgery, he returned to the Royal Children's Hospital.
ANDREW ROCHFORD: Today is the final surgical instalment for this extraordinary little boy. A few tweaks to the nose, final fixes to the face, and he will be ready to head back to Morocco.
(BEEPING)
PROFESSOR TONY HOLMES: The second surgery was really to make a better nose. We actually took some rib and made a sort of cantilever-type strut that was going to support his new nose.
FATIMA: He's an absolute trouper. He just...you know, he just keeps amazing me, that little boy. Within a couple of days, he was singing and, you know, happy and being the gorgeous little Yahya that he is. Yeah. No, he sailed through it again.
SONG: # Before too long # The one that you're loving # Will wish that he'd never met you... #
ANDREW ROCHFORD: The list of milestones that Yahya should never have reached is extensive, including his fifth birthday, which is today. I could spend a very long time running through all his remarkable achievements, but I think I'm just gonna go and join the party.
ANDREW ROCHFORD: Hello, buddy. Happy birthday!
ANDREW ROCHFORD: Today's celebration is also a chance to say goodbye to all the extraordinary people who have helped Yahya along the way.
FATIMA: But it is with a great deal of joy that I share his fifth birthday today with all of you and, um...it's with great joy that I will be taking him home... (TEARFULLY) ..looking the way he is...he is now. (APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)
FATIMA: He's made it to five and I hope he makes it to 105.
ANDREW ROCHFORD: He's walking a lot better than he was.
ANDREW ROCHFORD: There's one final tick of approval that Yahya needs to board that plane to Morocco.
PROFESSOR TONY HOLMES: Guys, how are you? Good to see you. Well, I'm VERY happy with him. I've got a few little, small problems that I'd like to iron out eventually, and that I'd like to get a bit of a better nose, but he's growing like a weed, um... ..and he doesn't need any more surgery at the current time.
PROFESSOR TONY HOLMES: I would think he's got a normal life expectancy. There's no other reason to expect otherwise.
PROFESSOR TONY HOLMES: Hope you have a lovely trip.
ANDREW ROCHFORD: So with the green light from the doc, Yahya is cleared to fly home, and as he's leaving, something extraordinary happens.
PROFESSOR TONY HOLMES: Bye-bye, Yahya.
FATIMA: Say bye-bye.
YAHYA: Thank...you.
ANDREW ROCHFORD: When he said "thank you", did you expect that?
PROFESSOR TONY HOLMES: That was pretty fantastic, yeah. It's very exciting. Whenever you have a patient who is successful and you see them happy, it really is a big buzz.
FATIMA: The Yahya that I met was a very quiet little boy. He didn't seem to have much confidence and he couldn't do a lot of the basic things that most kids did. So the Yahya that I'm bringing back is a totally different kid.
FATIMA: (SINGS) # If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands (CLAPPING) # If you're happy and you know it and you really want to show it # If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands. # Yay! (LAUGHS)
ANDREW ROCHFORD: His tiny village in the north of Africa remains unchanged. (DONKEY BRAYS) But the little boy who left here is nothing like the one who has returned. (HUMS)
FATIMA: Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing his family's reaction, because I am taking a different kid back home.
FATIMA: Yahya, we're nearly home. We'll go and see your daddy. And your little friend Heba.
FATIMA: Oh, Heba! (LAUGHS) Heba can't wait to see him. (LAUGHS)
FATIMA: Hey, Heba! Mwah! (LAUGHS) (SPEAKS FOREIGN LANGUAGE) (SPEAKS ARABIC)
FATIMA: I know that he recognised a lot of the voices and was quite happy to be hearing them again. (SPEAKS ARABIC) Especially his little friend Heba's voice. He was really happy to hear Heba.
CHILDREN: (ALL SING)
ANDREW ROCHFORD: Heba's turning six soon, and she hasn't forgotten her little friend.
PROFESSOR TONY HOLMES: He'll get out and socialise, and socialising and communicating is what makes a human being. I think he's now got the ability to do that. So it's made a big difference.
FATIMA: Bye-bye, Yahya. (SPEAKS FOREIGN LANGUAGE) Suddenly it hit me that, you know, I was actually saying goodbye to them, and, um...I know I'll see them again, but it just won't be the same without them.
FATIMA: I love you. I love you!
FATIMA: Saying goodbye to loved ones. It was saying goodbye to family. (SNIFFS) So it wasn't...it wasn't easy.
FATIMA: I love you! (LAUGHS) OK, bye, little guy. (SNIFFLES)
ALEX CULLEN: Beautiful story. For more on Yahya, head to our website, where there's info on how you can help.
