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How Samoana Matagi Survived 14,400 Volts & Lost Both Hands

April 26, 2026 / 01:15:20

This episode features Sam Martangi, known as the No-Handed Bandit, discussing his life-changing accident, recovery, and journey as a double hand amputee. Key topics include his experience with 14,400 volts of electricity, the emotional impact of losing his hands, and his current work helping others through social media.

Sam shares the details of his accident on December 13, 2010, while working as a lineman in Colorado. He describes the moment he was electrocuted, the subsequent medical decisions regarding his amputations, and the emotional struggles he faced during recovery.

Throughout the conversation, Sam emphasizes the importance of resilience and finding a new identity after trauma. He discusses how he has adapted to life without hands, including using prosthetics and creating a YouTube channel to inspire others.

Sam also reflects on the support he received from his brother, Fatu, who is also a lineman and lost a hand in a similar accident. Their shared experiences have helped them navigate their challenges together.

The episode concludes with Sam's message of hope, encouraging listeners to take steps forward in difficult times and to focus on helping others.

TL;DR

Sam Martangi, the No-Handed Bandit, shares his journey after losing his hands in an accident and emphasizes resilience and hope.

Episode

1:15:20

00:00:00

14,400 volts came in my left hand.

00:00:03

Remember smelling cooked flesh.

00:00:05

>> What did your hands look like?

00:00:06

>> A hot dog that you leave in the

00:00:08

microwave. It felt like my hands were

00:00:10

being burned.

00:00:11

>> What's the last thing you remember

00:00:13

before everything changed?

00:00:14

>> My supervisor lowered me down from the

00:00:16

bucket. He did chest compressions to

00:00:19

start my heart again. Doesn't seem like

00:00:21

much of a choice. He's also a lineman.

00:00:23

Actually killed his pole partner. He

00:00:26

lost his arm, but he also lost his pole

00:00:28

partner. I had to ask her to wipe my

00:00:30

bottom.

00:00:31

>> Was that rock bottom?

00:00:32

>> I didn't want to get up. I will always

00:00:35

need someone to help me. Felt like I

00:00:37

lost a sense of my identity.

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>> Did you ever feel like you were going to

00:00:40

die?

00:00:40

>> He thought I was going to be a goner. I

00:00:42

believe I can do everything.

00:00:46

>> Oh god, you're here. Come on. This is

00:00:48

the center of performance. Whenever

00:00:50

there's a top performance in New

00:00:51

Zealand, it all comes from here. That's

00:00:53

Lisa Carrington. She's been doing that

00:00:55

for days. That's the boy who got the

00:00:57

hollow one in top.

00:01:00

Oh,

00:01:00

>> he did it again. Hey Finn, how's the

00:01:03

performance going?

00:01:04

>> Top tier.

00:01:04

>> Nice. This is our generate room. In

00:01:06

here, you'll find our top performers

00:01:08

helping Kiwis maximize their Kiwi Saver

00:01:10

investments. Get in here, Finn.

00:01:12

>> Maximize Generate. Putting performance

00:01:15

first.

00:01:15

>> Sam Martangi, the Nohanded Bandit.

00:01:18

Welcome to my podcast.

00:01:19

>> Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it.

00:01:21

Appreciate the opportunity to come and

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talk.

00:01:24

>> Yeah. Well, it's great to have you here

00:01:25

uh in New Zealand from Utah, Salt Lake

00:01:28

City.

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>> That's right. Uh I've been here about 4

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days and uh it's exciting. There's a lot

00:01:34

of new adventures to do here. Yeah.

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>> What are the biggest surprises about New

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Zealand so far? Is it the the lack of

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water in the toilets?

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>> Oh, yeah. No, that that one's I' I've

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been to Brazil and so it's the same kind

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of system, but uh I think the surprises

00:01:52

like traffic. There's traffic

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everywhere. I didn't think there was

00:01:55

traffic everywhere.

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>> What were you expecting?

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>> I don't know.

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>> Well, it's great to have you here. Um,

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yes. Sam Moana from American Samoa. Um,

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nickname online, the no-handed bandit.

00:02:10

Uh, which anyone that's watching this

00:02:12

will be able to figure out how you got

00:02:14

that nickname. Anyone that's just

00:02:16

listening to this, uh, won't be able to

00:02:17

see what's going on. So, why the

00:02:19

nickname the no-handed bandit? Uh, I

00:02:21

first came up with the nickname Nohanded

00:02:24

Bandit when I was, uh, 34. I was working

00:02:29

on power lines and we were working on a

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14,400 volt power line. I went to throw

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away a piece of scrap wire and the tail

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end flipped up and hit the power line

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and then 14,400 volts came in my left

00:02:46

hand and out my right hand. And so, uh,

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due to the burn injuries, uh, the

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insides of my forearms were burnt so

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badly that they had to amputate my

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hands. And when I was in the hospital, I

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was working with the occupational

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therapist and they were trying to teach

00:03:05

me how to do things with these hands.

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And uh, we were looking on YouTube and

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there wasn't very many people on YouTube

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there. There wasn't any people on

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YouTube teaching how to do that. And so

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at the time I thought maybe once I get

00:03:22

better I'll make YouTube videos. And

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then I was thinking what should I go by?

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And I thought nohanded. And what rhymes

00:03:31

with nohanded? Bandit kind of rhymes.

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>> Near enough. And how's your how's your

00:03:39

content going?

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>> Uh it's doing good. Uh there's a lot of

00:03:42

people that watch that are double hand

00:03:45

amputees, but there's also a lot of

00:03:47

people that watch just because they find

00:03:49

it inspiring that, you know, I'm out

00:03:51

there trying to do things and it helps

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them to smile and and go about their

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day, uh trying their best.

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>> So, the arms you've got, what what's the

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name? Do we call them prosthetics? Yeah,

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these are uh prosthetics or you could uh

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well the technical name is prosthesis

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but uh we call them prosthetics. I call

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them my hooks sometimes. Um or I just

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call them my hands. Yeah.

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>> Yeah. They're very robotic looking.

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>> Yeah, they well they seem robotic but

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they're actually more uh mechanical. So

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this cable it if I stretch out my arm it

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pulls this this what looks like a thumb

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and then when I bend my elbows it

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closes. Also has like a wrist that's

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loaded with a spring to spin and then I

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can you know rotate it to the right

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position and pick up stuff. And

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>> and then I have one last thing is like

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flexing. So if I want something to get

00:04:54

to my mouth, I need to flex it.

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>> Everything for you is way more difficult

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now than what it was.

00:05:02

>> Yeah. I mean pre2010.

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>> Yeah, for sure. Like the whole world I

00:05:07

think like everything is made for people

00:05:09

with hands cuz obviously there's a lot

00:05:12

more people with hands. Uh like doorork

00:05:14

knobs and steering wheels and things

00:05:16

like that all made for hands. And so

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sometimes it's a matter of me doing it

00:05:23

uh uh a certain amount of times and then

00:05:26

I catch catch a hold of it and I'm able

00:05:29

to do it pretty fast.

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What's the dumbest question you

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constantly get?

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Uh the dumbest question I constantly get

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uh well

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it's usually um were you in a war? Like

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they automatically jumped into they are

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automatically jumped if to war and so

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they assume everybody that's amputated

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is a war. So I think that's the dumbest

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question like

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>> um at least get to know me first before

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you ask me to the bedroom. No, just

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kidding.

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>> And what's your favorite madeup

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explanation for what happened? Do you

00:06:07

ever do you ever run with the war theme

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or

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>> Yeah. No. Well, there's uh the war

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theme. I uh sometimes I learned one from

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my friend. It's like you say, "Oh man,

00:06:19

it was hot in Afghanistan." You just say

00:06:21

how the weather was. Or uh for kids, I

00:06:25

tell them like it was sharks or bears or

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even sometimes the kids play so much

00:06:32

video games that that I tell them a

00:06:34

video game controller blew up in my

00:06:36

hands. And then they go, "I shouldn't

00:06:38

play so much video games. It's

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dangerous." Yeah.

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>> Well, you may as well try and have some

00:06:42

fun with it if you can. Right.

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>> Yeah. Exactly.

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>> Um I need to warn you in advance, and I

00:06:47

apologize for this. I'm bound to ask

00:06:48

some dumb questions today. M um but it

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comes from a place of wanting to learn

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more.

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>> Yeah. No. Uh I think

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>> the dumbest question actually is not to

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ask at all. So I like I like fielding

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questions.

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>> Yeah.

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>> Are you able to um you've got that glass

00:07:04

of water in front of you. Are you able

00:07:06

to pick that up? How do you How do you

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>> Yeah, it's uh basically I put up my

00:07:12

hooks around it and then I'll pick it up

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and

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take a drink and then put it down. Yeah.

00:07:21

>> Unreal. And I notice on your on your

00:07:23

left uh forearm

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>> uh you've got your phone attached there.

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>> Yeah.

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>> How do you like how do you unlock that

00:07:29

and operate? How do you text? So, I I

00:07:32

use what's called swipe to text and um

00:07:36

the hooks actually work on the screen. A

00:07:38

lot of people are surprised by that, but

00:07:40

uh it works. Uh it's a Samsung and so

00:07:44

the brand kind of matters sometimes. Uh

00:07:47

back when I was injured, I had a iPhone

00:07:50

and the iPhone didn't work with the

00:07:52

hooks, so I had to use a stylus. But, uh

00:07:56

texting is I use swipe to text. So, I

00:08:01

will touch the each letter

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um and then

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swipe it along to the next letter and

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stop right there.

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>> But it's funny, isn't it? So, going from

00:08:14

like um an iPhone to an Android, that's

00:08:17

um it's a pain in the ass for a lot of

00:08:18

people. So, but I suppose it's the same

00:08:21

for you for you in a in a a much much

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much more severe way. going from having

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uh arms to having these things. It's

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like you got to learn this new way of

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going about things.

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>> Yeah. The going when I first when it

00:08:34

first happened, it was a tough mental

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jump. And I think that's the the part

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that uh I want to emphasize is like the

00:08:44

mental part is probably the hardest

00:08:46

part. Um and just like any traumatic

00:08:49

injury, it's probably the mental part

00:08:51

that gets most people. Yeah.

00:08:55

Or one more dumb question before we get

00:08:56

get into it. Say we had a barbecue going

00:08:59

here and there were sausages on it.

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Yeah.

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>> Would would you get tongs or would you

00:09:02

just use the

00:09:03

>> No, I would just use the hooks and spin

00:09:05

them around like I have tongs built in.

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So the other thing is like me trying to

00:09:11

use tongs is like you trying to use

00:09:14

tongs to open tongs. You know what I'm

00:09:16

saying? So I I'm just using the tongs.

00:09:18

>> Is that a dumb question or is that a

00:09:20

reasonable question?

00:09:20

>> No, that's a good question. In fact, uh

00:09:23

like tongues is my number one enemy. So

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I never try to use tongs.

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>> Yeah. What else can't you do?

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>> Um

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>> is there many things that you can think

00:09:31

of that you just are unable to do?

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>> I believe I can do everything. And

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that's part of uh being able to succeed

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in a lot of things is you first got to

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believe you can do it and then if you

00:09:43

believe you can do it, you can do it.

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>> Man, this is going to be a great chat.

00:09:47

There's so much to discuss

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>> and unpack here. Yeah. Uh, first of all,

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who were you before December 2010?

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>> Uh, I was a power line worker. Uh, I was

00:09:59

a person that loves sports, uh,

00:10:01

specifically basketball and football.

00:10:03

And, uh, I also, uh, had a degree in

00:10:08

broadcast journalism. And so, I was a

00:10:11

video editor. And all these things had

00:10:13

hands, uh, and involve hands. And so

00:10:16

when I got when I lost my hands, I felt

00:10:18

like I lost a sense of my identity. And

00:10:22

uh I think that's the difficult part

00:10:24

about it. The the mental

00:10:27

um toughness to say I am that same

00:10:30

person. It's just I have to do things

00:10:32

differently. Yeah.

00:10:36

>> In a in a sense, did that feel like a

00:10:38

death? Like an identity death?

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>> Yeah. for uh a while it was like I I

00:10:45

thought I'm no longer that person that

00:10:47

can help other people and I'm the one

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that's depending on everyone else's

00:10:52

help. And for a while it was an identity

00:10:56

death, but I think

00:10:57

>> part of recovery is like trying all

00:11:01

those things that you used to love and

00:11:03

figuring out how to do them. Like I

00:11:05

still play basketball now. uh every

00:11:08

weekend I'm playing and then when it

00:11:10

gets to winter time I play about three

00:11:12

times a week. So I think when a person

00:11:17

gets in the accident they they think

00:11:19

their identity may be gone but uh I

00:11:23

would argue that they are the still the

00:11:25

same person and who they are is exist

00:11:28

inside their brain and inside their

00:11:30

heart.

00:11:31

Any accident doesn't change that until

00:11:34

you you're dead and then your identity

00:11:37

is gone for real.

00:11:39

>> Yeah, that that's a great lesson. And

00:11:40

and you can you can create a new

00:11:42

identity at any time.

00:11:44

>> That's true. Uh I think part of being

00:11:47

resilient is the idea that you can

00:11:50

create a new identity any time. Um you

00:11:53

can also uh look at life in a positive

00:11:56

way and then figure out uh how that new

00:12:00

identity will be. Yeah.

00:12:02

>> Which is like the idea behind the

00:12:05

YouTube channel and um creating

00:12:09

something that gives back to the world.

00:12:12

Yeah.

00:12:13

>> So December 13, 2010, that's when the

00:12:16

accident happened. Um it's actually 15

00:12:19

15 years ago this week that we're

00:12:21

recording it.

00:12:22

>> Yeah.

00:12:22

>> Um does the date mean anything to you?

00:12:26

>> Yeah. Uh in the burn community or the

00:12:28

burn survivor community, we call it a

00:12:31

burniversary and it's kind of like uh it

00:12:34

sounds uh like why would you celebrate

00:12:37

uh your date you got burned? I think uh

00:12:41

another way to look at it is um uh

00:12:47

reborn day

00:12:49

>> like the day you were reborn cuz when

00:12:53

you are a burn survivor you have to

00:12:55

create a new identity and become a new

00:12:57

person uh often. So uh I think I

00:13:03

celebrate it now. Back in the beginning,

00:13:05

it was like, "Oh, that's that day is

00:13:08

terrible." But uh now I'm like, "Yeah,

00:13:11

that's the day I was uh born again and

00:13:14

and become a new person, you know."

00:13:18

>> Yes. So that day, December 13, 2010,

00:13:20

you're in Colorado. You're working on

00:13:22

power lines in a small farming town.

00:13:24

>> What's the last thing you remember

00:13:26

before everything changed?

00:13:28

>> Uh I just was remembering the last thing

00:13:30

I looked down.

00:13:33

uh to throw the piece of wire that I cut

00:13:37

and my boss was down there. And so I

00:13:40

decided I'm going to turn around and

00:13:41

throw it behind me. And so to me, it

00:13:44

symbolizes that I was always thinking of

00:13:46

other people. Like if I was thinking of

00:13:49

myself, I just thrown that piece of wire

00:13:51

on his head. But uh uh for me to come up

00:13:56

with a YouTube channel to try to help

00:13:58

other people, that's who I am. like who

00:14:01

I am, my identity actually was uh

00:14:05

service, serving others and helping

00:14:07

other people.

00:14:08

>> Yeah.

00:14:09

>> So, the shock you black out so you don't

00:14:12

remember anything, you don't feel

00:14:13

anything. You're just going by what

00:14:15

you've been told by third-hand accounts.

00:14:16

>> Yeah. Uh I it the shock knocked me out

00:14:20

and also I was not breathing. Uh my

00:14:23

supervisor lowered me down from the the

00:14:26

bucket, the cherry picker. I don't know

00:14:28

how you call it here. Um, and then he

00:14:32

did chest compressions to start my heart

00:14:34

again and uh start me breathing. But all

00:14:37

this whole time I didn't come to to

00:14:39

consciousness until they were carrying

00:14:42

me on a stretcher to the helicopter. And

00:14:45

I remember waking up and I could hear a

00:14:47

helicopter and I thought I was waking up

00:14:49

to start the day and uh and then all of

00:14:52

a sudden I felt my hands burning and

00:14:55

they were asking uh what's your name?

00:14:58

What's your address? And I kept

00:15:00

repeating my name and address and then I

00:15:01

would ask at the end like why are my

00:15:04

hands burning? And so it didn't I didn't

00:15:09

they knocked me out again medically and

00:15:11

then uh I woke up and I was in the

00:15:14

hospital.

00:15:15

>> Yeah.

00:15:18

>> So people that were there that day, um

00:15:19

the people that called the first

00:15:20

responders, the people that gave you

00:15:22

CPR,

00:15:24

have you had conversations with them?

00:15:25

What have they said about it? Did they

00:15:26

think you were going to make it? Uh, I

00:15:29

haven't talked to them, but uh, I know I

00:15:31

went through that small town and I think

00:15:34

everyone in the town knows that story

00:15:36

and I stopped in a gas station and I was

00:15:39

buying something and there was this old

00:15:41

tough cowboy that was uh, he was looking

00:15:44

at me and it turned out to be that he

00:15:47

was the uncle of the lady I was renting

00:15:50

a room from. And uh he just to see me he

00:15:54

was crying cuz he thought I was going to

00:15:56

be a goner. Like you see a tough old man

00:15:59

like that crying it's like they don't do

00:16:01

that very often. And so yeah.

00:16:04

>> Yeah. That's so impactful.

00:16:06

>> Yeah.

00:16:07

>> So so so when you're drifting in and out

00:16:09

of consciousness in the helicopter like

00:16:12

what are you are you in pain or are you

00:16:13

just confused bewildered?

00:16:15

>> Yeah. No I'm uh I'm in pain. Uh so

00:16:20

there's a thing it's called phantom pain

00:16:22

and your nervous system uh even though

00:16:25

the the parts are cut off it's it's

00:16:29

feeling the burning sensation and it's

00:16:32

sending a signal to the brain that oh

00:16:35

your hands are burning and so I was

00:16:37

feeling that it felt like my hands were

00:16:39

being burned and it felt a little bit

00:16:42

electrical. Um so yeah.

00:16:46

>> What did your hands look like? Uh they

00:16:48

were still there, but uh I always

00:16:52

equated to, you know, a hot dog that you

00:16:55

leave in the microwave, it gets pretty

00:16:57

fat. And uh my hands were um swollen.

00:17:01

>> And then they had little holes. Well,

00:17:04

they weren't little, they were big holes

00:17:06

where the entry wound was and the exit

00:17:08

wound. Yeah.

00:17:10

>> What did the paramedics paramedics tell

00:17:12

you? Uh they at the time when they were

00:17:16

taking me on the helicopter, they didn't

00:17:18

tell me anything. They wanted to keep me

00:17:21

out of shock. And so it's when I get to

00:17:24

the hospital that they inject um a die

00:17:28

inside my bloodstream to make sure that

00:17:31

blood is flowing down to the hands. And

00:17:33

then the doctor was at that time saying,

00:17:36

"Well, we need to see if blood's flowing

00:17:38

down there. If it is, then we could save

00:17:40

your hands." Uh and then uh I was in

00:17:44

there on a Monday and by Friday they

00:17:46

were saying the blood wasn't flowing and

00:17:48

we're going to take you down to the

00:17:50

operation room and we need to amputate

00:17:53

your hands. But they they gave the

00:17:54

choice to me like do you want to try to

00:17:57

keep your hands and risk gang green and

00:17:59

and die or do you want to Yeah. Doesn't

00:18:02

seem like much of a choice. Uh or have

00:18:05

your hands amputated. They want to make

00:18:07

you sound like you're choosing. Yeah.

00:18:11

Yeah, I've had um a woman on the podcast

00:18:14

called um Sharon Shaz Dag and uh she she

00:18:18

lost um lost an arm in a in a storm.

00:18:20

She's on a farm. It was a very stormy

00:18:22

night. She went out to check on the

00:18:23

animals and then a sheet of corrugated

00:18:24

iron flew off um off one of the um one

00:18:27

of the animals shelters and it ended up

00:18:29

like slicing her arm and they gave her

00:18:32

the same option. Do you want to keep it

00:18:33

or do you want to lose it? and she she

00:18:35

went to keep it and then for the next

00:18:37

year and a half it was just kind of it

00:18:38

was kind of useless and it wasn't doing

00:18:40

and in in the end she made the decision

00:18:42

herself just to amputate it.

00:18:44

>> Yeah.

00:18:44

>> So they had saved it successfully but it

00:18:46

just wasn't functioning and if anything

00:18:47

it was like holding her back.

00:18:49

>> Um

00:18:51

>> I can't imagine how impossibly difficult

00:18:52

it is for a human to to make that

00:18:54

decision.

00:18:55

>> Mhm. Yeah. Uh I think for me I'm like a

00:18:59

different kind of person where I make

00:19:01

decisions and uh the impact doesn't hit

00:19:04

me till later and so

00:19:06

>> impulsive we call it.

00:19:07

>> Yeah. Yeah. Uh I think the impact hit me

00:19:10

when I got home from the hospital. So, I

00:19:12

stayed in the hospital in Colorado for

00:19:15

one month and then I went to Utah to get

00:19:18

closer to home and I stayed there for a

00:19:20

month and a half. And it wasn't until I

00:19:22

got home that I said, "Oh man, this is

00:19:24

going to be hard." And I remember being

00:19:27

depressed, so depressed that I slept the

00:19:29

whole first week uh at home not knowing

00:19:34

what to do, you know. Uh, and I think

00:19:36

the most important thing was that I got

00:19:39

a hold of another person that was a

00:19:42

double hand amputee and and I was able

00:19:44

to ask him questions. Once I I found out

00:19:48

how to do certain things, then I was

00:19:50

like on the road to recovery. Yeah.

00:19:54

>> Did you ever feel like you were going to

00:19:55

die? Like you knew that your your hands

00:19:58

were um a touchandgo situation, but did

00:20:00

you ever feel like your life was in the

00:20:01

balance? Uh I think my life the only

00:20:04

time my life was in the balance was when

00:20:06

I was in the bucket and not breathing.

00:20:09

And uh at the time I wasn't able I

00:20:12

wasn't thinking cuz I was knocked out

00:20:13

you know I was unconscious. So uh during

00:20:16

the recovery I never felt like I was

00:20:18

going to die. No.

00:20:20

>> Yeah. So, you're in hospital and they

00:20:22

they do what they can to save your hands

00:20:24

and then um you've got to make the Well,

00:20:26

I was going to say an impossibly

00:20:27

difficult decision, but it sounds like

00:20:28

they they gave you the pros and cons and

00:20:31

it seems like it's a no-brainer.

00:20:32

>> Yeah. Yeah.

00:20:33

>> But then, so then you go into surgery.

00:20:35

What's that like wake waking up um like

00:20:38

a different person to what you were

00:20:39

before? Uh

00:20:42

again, it didn't hit me while I was in

00:20:44

the hospital because I always had the

00:20:47

the you know, you're always sitting

00:20:50

there in the hospital bed and there's

00:20:52

always this button that you can push and

00:20:54

there's a person that's getting paid to

00:20:56

come take care of you. You know, there's

00:20:58

always that safety switch. And so it

00:21:00

doesn't hit me until I get home that I'm

00:21:03

going to have to take care of myself

00:21:05

without any prosthetics. Um, and I think

00:21:09

the hardest part was like the first time

00:21:11

I went to the bathroom, my mom was still

00:21:14

alive and I had to ask her to to wipe my

00:21:17

bottom. And it to have your mother

00:21:22

wiping your bottom at the age of 34.

00:21:24

It's like, oh man, this sucks. Uh, I

00:21:27

need to learn how to do it so that she

00:21:29

doesn't have to do it cuz she already

00:21:31

did it when I was a little baby, you

00:21:32

know?

00:21:33

>> And so yeah, that the hard part came

00:21:36

when I got home. Yep.

00:21:42

>> Yeah. I just can't imagine that. Like

00:21:43

I'm um I feel like you and I are similar

00:21:46

in the respect that we're both fiercely

00:21:47

independent individuals.

00:21:49

>> So just losing that um independence and

00:21:51

um relying on others to do the most, you

00:21:53

know, basic human requirements.

00:21:56

Was that rock bottom?

00:21:57

>> That was rock bottom. I didn't want to

00:22:00

get up. I didn't want to do anything.

00:22:03

The only thing that helped me, I mean,

00:22:05

there was lots of things that helped me,

00:22:07

but one of the things that helped me is

00:22:09

I would because I was sleeping all day,

00:22:12

I would wake up at nighttime and I would

00:22:14

turn on the TV and there was this show.

00:22:16

It's called Wipeout and

00:22:18

>> Oh, yeah. With the big red balls.

00:22:20

>> Yeah. The big red balls and people just

00:22:22

getting plastered. And I that helped me

00:22:24

cuz I was laughing like watching all

00:22:27

these people getting plastered. Yep.

00:22:32

I suppose like some light escapism like

00:22:35

that, it just gets you out of your own

00:22:36

head space. Gets gets you out of your

00:22:38

own feelings.

00:22:39

>> Yeah, 100%.

00:22:40

>> Okay. So, your brother, this is the

00:22:42

crazy story. So, your brother Fatu

00:22:44

>> Yeah. Fatu. Yeah.

00:22:44

>> Fatu. Yeah. He he he also lost a hand in

00:22:47

a similar sort of accident.

00:22:49

>> Yeah. He he's also a lineman and he was

00:22:52

climbing on a pole and uh electricity

00:22:56

has a direction. It has it's like

00:22:58

traffic. there's a flow. And uh he went

00:23:02

up the pole and the city gave him a map

00:23:05

and it showed the electricity going one

00:23:08

way when it was actually going the other

00:23:10

way. And so the wire that he thought was

00:23:14

energized was deenergized and the one

00:23:17

that he thought was deenergized was

00:23:19

energized. And so he sustained a a burn

00:23:22

from 7200 volts. and uh his pole partner

00:23:26

tried to save him. Uh knocked the wire

00:23:29

off of him and then the wire came down

00:23:32

and hit his pole partner and actually

00:23:34

killed his pole partner. And so he he

00:23:39

lost his arm, but he also lost his pole

00:23:42

partner. And so there's a lot of like

00:23:44

survivors guilt and and stuff in in that

00:23:47

situation. Yeah.

00:23:50

So when you're in hospital, um, he

00:23:52

decides, by the way, what year did he

00:23:54

lose? What year did that happen to him?

00:23:56

>> 2008,

00:23:57

>> right? So two years before you.

00:23:58

>> Y.

00:23:59

>> So here he is. He's just getting getting

00:24:01

to grips with the, I suppose, the

00:24:03

dayto-day of um, you losing a hand and

00:24:05

then it happens to his brother. Um, only

00:24:07

twice as bad.

00:24:09

>> Um, he he graciously skips Christmas

00:24:12

with his own family to join you in

00:24:13

hospital.

00:24:14

>> Um, yeah. What did his presence mean to

00:24:17

you in those early days? Uh, it meant a

00:24:19

lot to be having family there. Um,

00:24:21

because without him there, I mean, I

00:24:24

have an uncle and aunt that lived in

00:24:26

Colorado, but just it's it means a lot

00:24:30

more when it's your your sibling. Like I

00:24:34

grew up with him and and he grew up with

00:24:36

me and we always went on adventures

00:24:38

together. And also like

00:24:41

>> not only did he lose his arm, but he's

00:24:43

also working in the same field as me.

00:24:46

And so we had a lot in common to talk

00:24:48

about like linemen, power lines, um,

00:24:52

growing up together. And so it felt like

00:24:56

I was being supported in the best way

00:24:59

possible with him there.

00:25:02

>> Yeah. What could he what could he offer

00:25:04

you like in terms of um, you know, going

00:25:07

beyond moral support and brotherly love?

00:25:09

>> Mhm. He he kind of like put out a map.

00:25:13

It's going to be hard. He kept telling

00:25:15

me it's going to be hard and uh that

00:25:18

like braces me for the impact. It's like

00:25:21

when you're going to get in a accident,

00:25:24

if somebody told you you're going to hit

00:25:26

a car, then you're going to brace for

00:25:28

impact before you get hit. Um and so

00:25:31

that's part of what he he brings to me.

00:25:34

And then also like the humor.

00:25:36

>> Uh him and I, we have the kind of the

00:25:38

same sense of humor, this kind of

00:25:40

slapstick humor. Um, and so he's able to

00:25:43

make me laugh during the the time I was

00:25:46

in the hospital at that Christmas time.

00:25:49

>> You know, I believe there was an

00:25:50

incident when you were discharged from

00:25:52

hospital and you're flying home and he

00:25:54

feeds you on the plane.

00:25:55

>> Oh, yeah. He was uh it was funny because

00:25:58

I still had these wound vacuums on my

00:26:01

arms and so I look like a mess. And uh

00:26:05

we go to get a hamburger and at

00:26:08

McDonald's and he's sitting there

00:26:10

feeding me and I'm we're laughing at

00:26:12

because of the the

00:26:13

>> the ridiculous. Yeah. The

00:26:15

ridiculousness. Exactly.

00:26:19

>> I'm trying to put myself in your

00:26:20

position

00:26:22

every sort of first like that. So you

00:26:24

you you get discharged from hospital,

00:26:26

you've got these these bandages on and

00:26:28

these these arms with nothing on the end

00:26:30

where for the past 35 years of your life

00:26:32

there's been things on the end that you

00:26:33

can use

00:26:35

every every time you encounter something

00:26:36

news a new it's just a reminder of um of

00:26:39

of what you had that you no longer have

00:26:42

like how do you process that sort of

00:26:43

grief?

00:26:44

>> Uh I think

00:26:46

there's a certain way to look at it. You

00:26:49

can either look at it uh looking back at

00:26:52

the past and looking back at the past

00:26:56

usually brings depression. But if you

00:26:58

look in the present or live in the

00:27:00

present and be in the present moment,

00:27:04

you're not thinking about what you used

00:27:06

to have, but you're thinking about what

00:27:08

you're going to do to get through that

00:27:10

situation. And so the best way to live

00:27:13

life is to be in the present. Cuz you

00:27:15

can be in the past and be depressed and

00:27:18

think about what you used to have. You

00:27:20

can also live in the future and be

00:27:22

anxious about what's going to happen.

00:27:24

But if you stay in the present moment,

00:27:27

uh you won't be depressed or an anxious,

00:27:31

you'll be looking at the opportunities

00:27:33

that are presented right before you at

00:27:35

that moment. So I have an opportunity to

00:27:37

learn something every single day that I

00:27:39

encounter something new. And uh I also

00:27:42

have the opportunity to teach someone

00:27:45

else that that's that's how I come up

00:27:47

with the YouTube channel is I'm looking

00:27:50

at these things and hey, how do you do

00:27:53

this? Okay, I'm going to put it on

00:27:54

YouTube and I'm going to help the next

00:27:57

person that comes along.

00:27:59

>> I don't know if there there will be like

00:28:01

a better takeaway than that from this

00:28:02

episode. I I love that so much. So

00:28:05

>> depression's caused by thinking about or

00:28:07

wishing things were different than what

00:28:09

they were.

00:28:09

>> Yeah. Anxiety is caused by worrying

00:28:11

about what's ahead.

00:28:12

>> Yeah.

00:28:13

>> Did you always have that mindset or is

00:28:14

this something that you developed out of

00:28:16

necessity?

00:28:17

>> Um, so the journey that I learned that

00:28:20

along the journey and it's because you

00:28:23

know I went to a psychologist. I went to

00:28:28

uh group meetings for burn survivors and

00:28:32

um all these things that I I've done

00:28:34

taught me that. And so, um, I think that

00:28:38

a lot of times people get in a situation

00:28:40

like this or a traumatic situation and

00:28:42

they don't do anything. And doing

00:28:45

nothing, uh, you're not going to

00:28:48

progress. It's when you get out of your

00:28:50

comfort zone, uh, and do work, that's

00:28:54

when you're going to learn these things.

00:28:56

You know, a lot of people just feel so

00:28:59

helpless that they do nothing.

00:29:02

>> It's like a cheesy lot. Do you know the

00:29:03

movie The Shaw Shank Redemption? Yeah.

00:29:05

>> Yeah. There's a cheesy line on that. Get

00:29:07

busy living or get busy dying. Exactly.

00:29:09

>> And um and grief in whatever form it

00:29:11

looks like, whether it's mourning body

00:29:12

parts or mourning a loved one. It just

00:29:14

it can consume you and make your world

00:29:16

so small. Yeah.

00:29:17

>> Um and the best thing you can do for

00:29:19

yourself and the people around you is to

00:29:21

is to fight that.

00:29:22

>> Yeah.

00:29:23

>> Make your world big again.

00:29:24

>> I think uh it's the tendency to just

00:29:28

think about me me. Uh, and so when you

00:29:31

start thinking about me me, then yeah,

00:29:34

your world shrinks down to Oh, shoot.

00:29:39

>> That's all right. No big deal.

00:29:40

>> Yeah. So, you you think about me me and

00:29:43

your your world shrinks down to just

00:29:45

yourself and then uh then you become

00:29:49

depressed and and then you you're

00:29:52

helpless. Yeah.

00:29:53

>> Can you remember the first time you

00:29:54

laughed again or smiled again?

00:29:56

Well, I I I'm I'm a laugher. I laugh a

00:30:00

lot. My brother, he he's uh he's good at

00:30:04

making me laugh, too. And so, it was in

00:30:06

the hospital. Um in fact, uh I come out

00:30:10

of the hospital. I'm a big fan of uh NFL

00:30:13

football, which is like the American

00:30:15

football.

00:30:16

>> Oh, yeah. We know, mate. That's what

00:30:18

that's what that's what the the Kelsey

00:30:19

brothers play.

00:30:20

>> Oh, yeah. We know brothers. Yeah. Uh,

00:30:24

and uh, I remember my team, which is the

00:30:28

Raiders, uh, they played Denver, which

00:30:31

is where I was being operated on. And,

00:30:35

uh, my first post off uh, on Facebook

00:30:38

was I was doing the touchdowns symbol,

00:30:41

but with no hands. And I was like, "The

00:30:44

Raiders beat the Denver Broncos." And it

00:30:47

was funny cuz

00:30:49

um I was kind of talking trash is like

00:30:51

one of my other things that I do. So I

00:30:53

was talking trash for to all the Denver

00:30:56

fans without hands and also like

00:30:58

everybody that was looking on Facebook

00:31:00

was like is he playing a joke? Is he

00:31:02

serious? They don't know what is

00:31:04

happening. So uh yeah that was the first

00:31:07

time I laughed. Uh pretty much. Yep.

00:31:10

>> I love that. Yes. It sounds like humor

00:31:12

has been a huge sort of I guess coping

00:31:14

mechanism.

00:31:15

>> Yeah. Uh yeah, if you can look at a

00:31:18

situation and find something to smile

00:31:20

about, it helps a lot and it's able I I

00:31:24

mean I've done studies on resilience and

00:31:26

part of like motivational speaking is

00:31:29

talking about resilience and one of the

00:31:32

things that helps a person's resilience

00:31:34

is to be able to laugh.

00:31:36

>> Uh like it brings um

00:31:39

>> endorphins inside your body that help

00:31:41

you uh be able to overcome difficult

00:31:44

things. Yeah,

00:31:46

>> there's a saying which you may or may

00:31:47

not have heard of, the one that um

00:31:49

comparison is the theft of joy.

00:31:51

>> Oh yeah, definitely.

00:31:52

>> Which is true, but I've also found on

00:31:54

the counter side of that um if you

00:31:56

compare down, you don't have to look

00:31:58

that hard to find someone that is a lot

00:32:00

happier with a lot less.

00:32:01

>> Oh yeah, have you sort of found that

00:32:03

from like groups you've spoken to or

00:32:05

support groups and

00:32:06

>> Yeah. I um what my first time there's

00:32:11

this conference it's called World Burn

00:32:13

Congress and it's put on by Phoenix

00:32:15

Society and it's like people from all

00:32:17

over the world that have been burned. Uh

00:32:19

they come to meet and I remember my

00:32:21

first time going there and I was looking

00:32:23

at uh everyone and there were people

00:32:26

there. I was like I don't know how I

00:32:27

could smile and I see them smiling and I

00:32:30

was like if I if they can smile I can

00:32:33

smile too. Yeah.

00:32:38

Did you ever get depression?

00:32:40

>> Yeah, that that first week I was

00:32:42

definitely depressed. Um, I think like

00:32:46

you said, I'm a person that's

00:32:48

independent. I love to be able to go and

00:32:51

travel uh by myself, not depend on

00:32:55

anyone. And I found myself in a

00:32:57

situation that was like and I was found

00:33:00

myself thinking about I will always need

00:33:03

someone to help me be a caretaker. And

00:33:06

that thought was just uh tremendously

00:33:09

depressing.

00:33:10

>> Yeah.

00:33:11

>> How and how long before you got the um

00:33:13

the mechanical mechanical hands the the

00:33:15

new ones? Uh so

00:33:18

I was in the hospital

00:33:20

um from December to February and January

00:33:26

like the second week of January the man

00:33:28

was there the prostatist

00:33:31

uh he was there fitting me for

00:33:34

prosthetic arms and then like a week

00:33:36

later he brought me prosthetic arms. At

00:33:38

the time, I didn't accept them. Like, I

00:33:41

was dealing with a work injury and the

00:33:44

insurance was bringing me these arms

00:33:46

that didn't look like hands, didn't feel

00:33:49

like hands, didn't when I touch

00:33:51

something, I didn't feel it. And so, I

00:33:54

was not accepting it. I was like, "No,

00:33:56

those aren't those are not acceptable."

00:33:59

>> Uh, I think

00:34:00

>> Go away. Go get some uh something else.

00:34:03

>> More realistic.

00:34:04

>> Go find the Luke Skywalker and bring

00:34:06

those arms back to me. Yeah. So, uh I

00:34:10

think part of overcoming such a

00:34:13

difficult thing is acceptance,

00:34:15

>> accepting the situation you're in,

00:34:17

accepting the tools that are being used

00:34:21

currently at the time uh to do things.

00:34:25

And so once I accepted these arms, I

00:34:28

started uh progressing really fast.

00:34:33

>> Yeah. So that piece of the rehab um like

00:34:36

getting used to these things and train I

00:34:38

guess training them if that's what you

00:34:40

call it. What did that look like?

00:34:42

>> That must have been impossibly difficult

00:34:44

at times.

00:34:45

>> There it you learn patience because

00:34:48

you're dropping things on your lap and

00:34:50

it's almost like the the comparison I

00:34:53

make is like you're being born again.

00:34:56

You're a little baby and you got these

00:34:58

little hands, but we don't remember that

00:35:00

part. We did have to learn how to use

00:35:02

hands, right? uh except for now I'm

00:35:05

getting these new hands and I'm teaching

00:35:07

myself to pick up things and dropping

00:35:09

things on the floor. The only difference

00:35:11

is I can remember it now and so that's

00:35:14

what makes it frustrating.

00:35:15

>> What was the hardest thing to retrain

00:35:17

yourself to do?

00:35:18

>> Uh

00:35:22

I think the hardest thing was for me is

00:35:25

tying a a neck tie. Um

00:35:27

>> Oh man, I can't even do that now.

00:35:29

>> Yeah. So

00:35:30

>> I'm a t-shirt guy as well. I avoid those

00:35:32

things. Can you do it though?

00:35:34

>> Yeah, I can. I can tie a necktie. Um,

00:35:37

and the other thing is like I would

00:35:39

force myself to do hard things. And so

00:35:43

the occupational therapist is like, "Do

00:35:46

what do you want to do?" And I'm like,

00:35:47

"I want to tie a neck tie." And so we

00:35:49

struggled through the necktie thing for

00:35:52

days and days and days. And uh she's

00:35:56

like, "Why don't you just use a zipper

00:35:57

tie?" And I'm like, "Cuz I don't have a

00:35:59

zipper tie and I don't want to. I want

00:36:01

to learn how to tie the tie. But it's

00:36:03

funny now, I just wear zipper ties. I

00:36:06

just wanted to do it because I wanted to

00:36:08

show myself that you can still do those

00:36:11

things. You're not that part of the

00:36:13

world isn't shut off for you.

00:36:16

>> I think that speaks volumes about your

00:36:17

mindset and the sort of person you are.

00:36:19

And I I've I've had a lot of like

00:36:21

incredible people on the podcast that um

00:36:23

would not have described themselves as

00:36:25

like resilient or strong or courageous

00:36:27

before the incident happened in their

00:36:30

lives. And then there's people that just

00:36:31

had it all along and they just sort of

00:36:33

bounced through these adversities. I

00:36:35

feel like you're in the latter group.

00:36:36

>> Mhm.

00:36:37

>> Yeah.

00:36:37

>> Yeah. Well, I've had a difficult um

00:36:40

upbringing. Like when when I was in the

00:36:43

situation, what I did is I looked at all

00:36:46

the hard situations that I went through.

00:36:48

Like we grew up poor. I used to work as

00:36:52

a little kid with my dad and uh you know

00:36:55

my dad he he used corporal punishment.

00:36:59

We got spanked. We got all those things.

00:37:01

And I still managed to graduate from

00:37:04

high school, graduate from college. Uh I

00:37:07

went through a divorce, which was super

00:37:09

hard. And I told myself, if I can do all

00:37:11

those things, I can do this thing. And

00:37:14

uh yeah, that's that's the thing that

00:37:16

helps me the most.

00:37:18

>> Yeah. Well, when was the marriage

00:37:19

breakup? Was that before 2010 or?

00:37:22

>> Yeah, that was 2007.

00:37:25

>> Right. Right. Are you seeing anyone now?

00:37:27

>> Yeah, I'm dating a girl. Yeah.

00:37:29

>> Yeah.

00:37:29

>> Yeah.

00:37:30

>> How did How did you meet?

00:37:32

>> We met online on one of those dating

00:37:34

apps,

00:37:35

>> right? What do you Yeah. What do you

00:37:36

say? I'm curious. What like What do you

00:37:38

say on your your dating profile? Um um

00:37:41

>> I take well I definitely I show pictures

00:37:44

of myself and I also am straightforward

00:37:47

and say I lost my hands in this thing

00:37:49

but I also point out the the positive

00:37:51

part because the if you don't point out

00:37:54

the positive part then uh I think that's

00:37:58

the first thing that sticks in their

00:37:59

mind. So I point out that you know I

00:38:02

lost my hands and uh because of it I

00:38:07

I've shown my resilience and uh that's

00:38:11

what I do is I go around and speak about

00:38:13

it and so I point out the positives of

00:38:15

it not just the negatives.

00:38:18

>> Yeah.

00:38:21

>> I've got so many questions about that. I

00:38:23

don't know what Yeah. Intimacy. Do do

00:38:26

you comfortable talking about that or

00:38:28

not really? Yeah, I can talk about

00:38:29

intimacy like uh uh I don't know

00:38:34

um like what level of intimacy like I've

00:38:37

kissed her uh and I think it's difficult

00:38:41

because you're always comparing yourself

00:38:45

like oh another guy could just put his

00:38:47

hand on the lady's back or

00:38:50

>> on the lady's chin and uh I think it

00:38:53

involves a lot of communication like is

00:38:56

it okay if I touch your leg if or touch

00:38:59

your back or this or that. And sometimes

00:39:02

it's involves me just taking off my

00:39:05

arms. I think being patient is one thing

00:39:08

like

00:39:10

uh usually when I was younger is just

00:39:13

make out and do do the thing real fast,

00:39:16

but uh you have to take your time now.

00:39:19

Sometimes that can be romantic for a

00:39:21

woman.

00:39:22

>> Who would have thought? Who would have

00:39:24

thought? Um, oh, thanks for sharing

00:39:27

that.

00:39:27

>> Yeah. Yeah.

00:39:28

>> Yeah. It's really cool. She must get a

00:39:30

lot of questions, too, from her

00:39:31

girlfriends or from her family.

00:39:32

>> I bet I She doesn't tell them to me.

00:39:36

Well, maybe she does. I'm not very good

00:39:38

at listening, I guess. But, uh, I'm sure

00:39:41

she gets a lot of questions about like

00:39:43

how's he going to take care of himself

00:39:45

or this or that. And I think

00:39:48

>> take care of himself in what in what

00:39:49

way?

00:39:50

uh like when he gets older or or how's

00:39:54

he gonna take care of you like it's a

00:39:56

lot of times uh in society men are

00:40:00

expected to take care of women

00:40:01

financially

00:40:03

>> and uh I think she just focuses on the

00:40:06

positives. Yeah,

00:40:08

>> that's

00:40:09

>> maybe that's something I should talk to

00:40:10

her about.

00:40:11

>> Yeah. Oh, potentially. Yeah.

00:40:12

Communication. Communication. Um I've

00:40:15

heard you say it felt like the walls

00:40:17

were closing in when you returned home.

00:40:18

>> Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. Can you elaborate on

00:40:20

that?

00:40:21

>> So when what I meant by the walls were

00:40:24

it felt like the walls were closing in

00:40:26

was like I was being restrained

00:40:31

uh and no longer able to go out into the

00:40:35

world. Like currently I find myself in

00:40:38

New Zealand but at the moment it was

00:40:40

like I no longer can leave my house at

00:40:44

that moment. Uh, so I think that's what

00:40:48

it it felt like.

00:40:50

>> Yeah. I was no longer able to have

00:40:52

freedom to roam around and and do

00:40:55

everything.

00:40:57

>> But you've pretty much got that back now

00:40:59

15 years on.

00:41:00

>> Yeah, I can do pretty much everything

00:41:01

and travel and go fishing and we're

00:41:05

going fishing out in the ocean. So, uh,

00:41:08

I can do pretty much everything.

00:41:09

>> Do Do you need a rod or can you just

00:41:11

like put a bit of bit of bait on the end

00:41:12

of the

00:41:13

>> Oh, yeah. throw my arms out there.

00:41:17

>> Um, what about um, uh, post-traumatic

00:41:20

stress disorder or Yeah. or nightmares,

00:41:24

anything like that?

00:41:25

>> So, um,

00:41:28

I have never had post-traumatic stress

00:41:32

disorder, but I had post-traumatic

00:41:34

stress depression.

00:41:36

>> Uh, I think, um, because electricity,

00:41:39

you can't really see it. Uh and and also

00:41:43

that it knocked me out. So uh I didn't

00:41:48

experience it almost it's almost if it

00:41:50

happened as if I'm was asleep. Uh but I

00:41:55

did when I got home I did notice that

00:41:58

whenever my sister was cooking meat uh

00:42:01

my my stomach it got uh nauseated. So,

00:42:05

uh, my stomach got sick and that told me

00:42:07

like my brain does remember smelling

00:42:10

cooked flesh and uh, I wasn't trying to

00:42:15

eat any cooked flesh at the time, any

00:42:18

cooked meat. Um, because it just made my

00:42:21

stomach nausea nauseous. Uh, and um,

00:42:27

>> just the brain knows, eh?

00:42:29

>> Yeah. So, here's another thing. Uh

00:42:31

there's a thing called post-traumatic

00:42:33

stress disorder, but there's also

00:42:35

post-traumatic stress growth, and we

00:42:38

talk about it a lot. When something we

00:42:41

talk about a lot at the hospital, when

00:42:43

something bad happens to someone, you

00:42:46

can have post-traumatic stress disorder,

00:42:49

but also there is an opportunity for

00:42:52

post-traumatic stress growth. uh where a

00:42:56

person can learn how to do new things

00:42:59

like navigate this world without hands

00:43:02

or learn how to communicate better or

00:43:05

learn how to have patience. Um because

00:43:08

they're thrown in a situation that is

00:43:11

way outside of their comfort zone. Uh I

00:43:14

don't know uh if your listeners have

00:43:17

been in an uncomfortable situation, but

00:43:21

there is no growth that takes place

00:43:23

inside of your comfort zone. There only

00:43:26

outside of your comfort zone can a

00:43:28

person grow. So yeah,

00:43:33

>> I actually recorded a podcast earlier

00:43:35

this week with um a woman who was a

00:43:37

psychologist for the New Zealand SAS

00:43:39

SAS, which is like our Marines or Navy

00:43:41

Seals,

00:43:43

>> excuse me. She wrote a book called The

00:43:45

Resilience Toolkit. And uh in it, she

00:43:47

sort of said exactly what you said. She

00:43:50

said, you know, people talk about

00:43:51

bouncing back um but she talks about

00:43:53

bouncing forward. She's like instead of

00:43:55

just striving to get get back to where

00:43:57

you were before, like why not strive to

00:44:00

be better?

00:44:00

>> Yeah. Exactly.

00:44:01

>> Which is kind of in a way what you just

00:44:03

said I think.

00:44:04

>> Yep. Exactly. Uh

00:44:06

a lot of times people are like woe is

00:44:09

me. M um but I think what I've learned

00:44:13

is like

00:44:15

instead of say woe is me, oh look at the

00:44:17

opportunity I have to do such and such a

00:44:21

thing or uh speak to these people and

00:44:24

share my story so that if they have

00:44:27

something traumatic happen to them, they

00:44:29

can be inspired or uh learn from my

00:44:33

story. So yeah, I think that's that's

00:44:36

100% of what what I just Yeah, we just

00:44:38

said it in a different way.

00:44:40

>> Yeah. And wo is me is is um perfectly

00:44:43

fine. Like you can you you know if

00:44:45

you're a victim, you're entitled to play

00:44:47

the victim. But how do you you're not

00:44:49

doing yourself any favors by by

00:44:51

remaining in that space? But how someone

00:44:54

that has that sort of victim mindset or

00:44:55

that victim mentality, how can they snap

00:44:58

out of it and move on? Um, I think it's

00:45:01

it's a choice. Like you do have a

00:45:04

certain amount of time to be sad about a

00:45:06

thing. Uh, but if they choose to stay in

00:45:10

that place, then that's on them.

00:45:13

>> I think that uh instead of looking at

00:45:17

the why me, why is this happening to me?

00:45:22

Uh, one thing that can help and one

00:45:24

thing that helped me is look at how you

00:45:27

can help other people. If you can figure

00:45:30

out how to help other people, then it

00:45:32

gets uh the focus off of you and then it

00:45:35

starts focusing on other people and then

00:45:37

you find out, oh wow, look uh life is

00:45:41

not so bad if you can find a way to help

00:45:43

other people.

00:45:45

>> When you dream now, do you do you have

00:45:47

do you have hands or you have the um

00:45:49

prosthetics?

00:45:50

>> Uh immediately after

00:45:54

um when I was released from the

00:45:55

hospital, I did dream with hands. Um,

00:45:59

but it's funny cuz I don't remember very

00:46:02

many of my dreams,

00:46:03

>> but when I do dream, I don't even notice

00:46:06

my hands. So, that's that's pretty wild

00:46:10

to think about.

00:46:13

Yeah, cuz I had a um a tetroplegic on

00:46:16

the podcast um and he read some um

00:46:19

psychological studies and he said when

00:46:20

you

00:46:22

um when he reached the point that he

00:46:23

that he dreamed his life as the reality

00:46:26

is um according to the psychologist that

00:46:28

means he'd accepted it.

00:46:30

>> Oh, that's pretty interesting.

00:46:32

>> That is pretty interesting. Yeah.

00:46:34

>> Yeah.

00:46:34

>> Um who is Jason Koger?

00:46:37

>> Jason Koger, he's my mentor. So when I

00:46:40

was uh coming out of the hospital, I

00:46:44

felt like I was alone. I was the only

00:46:47

double hand amputee. It felt like I was

00:46:49

a pioneer because no one put any videos

00:46:52

out online. No one put any resources out

00:46:55

there. And so I was like, I'm the only

00:46:57

one. Uh, however, I was able to talk

00:47:02

about it on my Facebook or on my social

00:47:04

media and uh, people reached out to me

00:47:07

and said, "Hey, you want me to put you

00:47:09

in contact with a guy that's almost the

00:47:12

same level of amputations?" I was like,

00:47:14

"Yeah, I do. I accept that." And uh,

00:47:17

that was Jason Koger that he they put me

00:47:20

in contact with. And I called him on the

00:47:23

phone and he was like, "Hey, this is how

00:47:26

you do this. This is how you do that."

00:47:27

He explained to me how to do a couple

00:47:29

things and then he even like you can

00:47:31

come over to my house and live with me

00:47:33

for a week and then find out how I do

00:47:35

things. I was like wow what a nice guy

00:47:38

uh to uh you know share his whole life

00:47:42

with me. Uh at the time I was like uh no

00:47:46

that's okay. I don't like I don't even

00:47:48

know you man. But

00:47:51

but I I am so grateful for encountering

00:47:54

Jason Koger because he helped me so

00:47:56

much. And like every time we meet, it's

00:47:59

like we're two peas in a pod. We laugh

00:48:01

and and have a good time.

00:48:05

>> In hindsight, is that the first time you

00:48:06

felt truly truly understood?

00:48:09

>> Yeah. uh like I my brother understands

00:48:13

me to a certain level but he doesn't

00:48:16

have he still has one hand that he can

00:48:18

use and so when I was able to talk to

00:48:21

Jason I was like oh this guy knows

00:48:23

exactly what I'm going to go through.

00:48:25

Yeah.

00:48:26

>> And those first few outings

00:48:29

what are they like? Are you super

00:48:31

self-conscious? Are you aware that

00:48:32

people are steering?

00:48:34

>> No. Actually, what I was when I first

00:48:38

went to the grocery store with my mom

00:48:39

and sister, I was like worried about how

00:48:43

long this is taking. And uh I think for

00:48:47

me to do something efficiently and go in

00:48:52

the grocery store, get done, go home.

00:48:54

That's what was what mattered to me at

00:48:56

that time. And I was this is like a like

00:49:00

a man's style of thinking. uh get it

00:49:04

done and go home. But it was taking so

00:49:06

long. I was like, "Man, this is taking

00:49:08

too long." And I just was mad after that

00:49:11

and I wanted to go home. Yeah.

00:49:13

>> Oh, bro. I I can relate. I'm like, I'm

00:49:15

so impatient.

00:49:16

>> Yeah.

00:49:16

>> That would be the thing that annoys the

00:49:18

crap out of me.

00:49:19

>> Yeah.

00:49:20

>> Um Yeah. How long How long did it take

00:49:22

until you felt completely confident to

00:49:24

leave the house again? And um so after I

00:49:27

talked to Jason and I started to figure

00:49:29

out how to do things, uh

00:49:33

people were still contacting me about

00:49:35

something I used to do, which was go do

00:49:38

video and edit video and they were

00:49:41

contacting me to go shoot a rugby game

00:49:45

that was in San Diego. And so that was

00:49:49

in March. So from February to March, I

00:49:52

felt confident enough to fly on an

00:49:54

airplane, rent a car, go shoot this

00:49:57

these guys rugby game and edit it. So it

00:50:00

was pretty fast.

00:50:02

>> So March 2011, so 3 months after the

00:50:04

Wow. Okay.

00:50:06

>> Mhm.

00:50:07

>> Jeez.

00:50:08

>> I sort of imagine you sitting at home

00:50:10

watching Wipe Out in the middle of the

00:50:11

night for like a couple of years. Wow.

00:50:14

>> It was just a week that I was watching

00:50:16

Wipe Out. Yeah,

00:50:17

>> bro. This is so a week. Yeah,

00:50:19

>> this is so inspiring.

00:50:20

>> Yeah,

00:50:21

>> that's really cool.

00:50:23

>> Thank you.

00:50:23

>> [ __ ] Are you proud of yourself?

00:50:24

>> Oh, yeah. Uh, the more I look at what

00:50:28

happened from from now to then, the more

00:50:32

prouder I get of myself. Yeah.

00:50:35

>> Yeah. Can you believe it?

00:50:36

>> No. It seems unreal. Like when I when I

00:50:39

was coming to New Zealand, I was like,

00:50:41

"This is crazy." Um, it's like my

00:50:44

15-year anniversary of my amputations

00:50:48

and here I am going to New Zealand.

00:50:50

Like, I never would have imagined that

00:50:53

from the hospital bed. Never. Ever.

00:50:57

>> When you do something like board a plane

00:50:59

and there's like, you know, hundreds of

00:51:00

people around you, but are you aware

00:51:03

that people are looking or are people

00:51:05

are people not really looking?

00:51:07

>> It depends. Like I think when I get in

00:51:11

that headsp space where I'm worried

00:51:12

about what people are thinking, it's

00:51:15

like now you're looking at everyone and

00:51:18

going, you're throwing knives with your

00:51:20

eyeballs. Stop staring at me. I think

00:51:23

when I'm in the head space of I don't

00:51:25

care what other people think.

00:51:27

>> That's the more healthier head space to

00:51:30

be in. Like

00:51:32

>> the it it doesn't matter what everyone

00:51:35

else is thinking. um what everyone else

00:51:38

is thinking is their own business, you

00:51:41

know, so just mind your own business. Uh

00:51:45

you just worry about what you got to do.

00:51:47

You know what I'm saying?

00:51:48

>> Yeah. Yeah, I know exactly what you're

00:51:49

saying. I love that. And you ended up um

00:51:50

on the the Jumbotron, the Giant screen

00:51:53

at an NBA game.

00:51:54

>> Yeah.

00:51:54

>> Utah Jazz.

00:51:55

>> Yeah, that was one of the um moments

00:51:59

like Utah Jazz. I was watching the Utah

00:52:01

Jazz and I had actually worked in the

00:52:04

Jumbotron office and so people in the

00:52:06

Jumbotron knew me. Um, and I posted that

00:52:09

I'm going to a game and they were able

00:52:12

to find me in the audience and saw me

00:52:15

cheering for the Jazz and I was on the

00:52:17

Jumbotron and it made me feel like, oh,

00:52:20

this feels good. This feels like what it

00:52:22

used to feel like. And that's what

00:52:24

helped me to continue going. Like it's

00:52:27

when you focus on what's good that's

00:52:29

happening in your life that you're going

00:52:31

to repeat the thing and then you'll find

00:52:34

out. Uh my psychologist explained it

00:52:37

like this. If you get in um this it's

00:52:42

kind of shaped like an hourglass. If you

00:52:45

start getting depressed, it's just going

00:52:47

to take you down further and further and

00:52:49

further. But the inverse can happen. If

00:52:52

you if something good happens and makes

00:52:54

you feel good, you're going to keep

00:52:56

doing more things that make you feel

00:52:58

better and better and it spirals

00:53:00

upwards. So, it's like a hurricane that

00:53:04

takes you upward.

00:53:05

>> So, you can either choose to go down in

00:53:07

the bottom or you can choose to go up.

00:53:10

>> Did Did you Yeah. You mentioned a

00:53:11

psychologist then. Did you have much

00:53:13

therapy? Yeah, I I used to meet with the

00:53:16

the psychologist every week and I also

00:53:19

would go to group meeting for burn

00:53:21

survivors and uh that helped me out a

00:53:24

lot. I think one thing that

00:53:28

I had to be willing to do is try new

00:53:31

things. And for me, a psychologist was

00:53:33

like, I don't want no psychologist

00:53:36

getting inside my head. But at the

00:53:38

moment I was like I I'm I'm willing to

00:53:41

try anything to get better, you know?

00:53:44

And so that's that's what happened is

00:53:46

like I'm willing to try anything. Go

00:53:48

ahead, do it. And then see what happens.

00:53:50

>> Yeah. Is is there anything in life

00:53:52

that's better now than what it was

00:53:54

beforehand, physically or mentally?

00:53:57

>> It's it's crazy cuz I'm going to talk

00:53:59

about basketball right now. Like

00:54:01

basketball when I had hands, I was

00:54:04

really good. like I could drive in

00:54:06

between five guys, dribble behind my

00:54:08

back, do this all kinds of stuff. Uh

00:54:11

double pump and and uh even at one time

00:54:15

in my life, I could dunk it. And

00:54:17

basketball was enjoyable then, but I

00:54:20

find that basketball now is more

00:54:24

enjoyable in a mental way. like uh being

00:54:28

able to score baskets with no hands is

00:54:33

challenging. And it's challenging in a

00:54:36

way that feels like, oh, you did

00:54:39

actually you did better than you would

00:54:42

have with hands because

00:54:45

the overcoming the mental obstacle. And

00:54:48

so it's like more fruitful or more um

00:54:53

more of uh

00:54:57

>> uh

00:54:59

you feel like you accomplished more.

00:55:01

>> More rewarding.

00:55:02

>> Yeah, rewarding is the word I was

00:55:03

searching for.

00:55:04

>> And have I got my the internet may have

00:55:06

steered me wrong. Um but did you

00:55:09

audition for Hawaii 5 for

00:55:11

>> Oh, no. That's uh I did audition for

00:55:14

Hawaii 5. And it's funny cuz Jason Koker

00:55:17

also auditioned for Hawaii 5.

00:55:19

>> So the character was um a hand double of

00:55:22

um of a bad guy.

00:55:23

>> Yeah. Yeah. Guess who got that?

00:55:26

>> Who?

00:55:26

>> Jason.

00:55:27

>> Oh, did he? Yeah.

00:55:28

>> Did he?

00:55:29

>> Jason got that job. Yeah.

00:55:30

>> How did they decide what what what set

00:55:32

him apart from you? So what happened was

00:55:34

is Jason is is a is a Caucasian guy and

00:55:38

the bad guy is Caucasian and they looked

00:55:41

at my arms and they were like we can't

00:55:42

have a tan arms on a Caucasian guy. So I

00:55:46

didn't get that part but I did get a

00:55:48

couple of other parts in other TV shows

00:55:50

and it's always like a dead Hispanic guy

00:55:53

that lost his arms.

00:55:57

>> So only non-speaking roles until

00:56:00

>> just a dead guy in the background. Yeah.

00:56:02

>> Yeah. Oh wow. What a good experience

00:56:03

though.

00:56:04

>> Yeah. Yeah. I was on American Horror

00:56:06

Story, one of them is uh and I'm laying

00:56:08

there as a dead guy and the camera just

00:56:10

goes right in front of me. It was it was

00:56:13

pretty awesome.

00:56:13

>> Wow.

00:56:14

>> Yeah.

00:56:14

>> Um and the social media stuff. Yeah. Was

00:56:19

it was that a difficult decision to

00:56:20

share or No, like you mentioned before

00:56:22

you had a background in video editing

00:56:24

and stuff, so I I guess in a way it was

00:56:26

like a natural transition.

00:56:27

>> Yeah. I feel like um social media was

00:56:31

not hard for me to do cuz I like to, you

00:56:34

know, live my life in front of everyone

00:56:37

cuz I don't have anything to hide. But

00:56:39

at the same time, I did create this

00:56:42

moniker of no-handed bandit. And the

00:56:45

reason why I was like I feel like I

00:56:48

didn't want to get the knives and that

00:56:50

guy could take it whereas Samana would

00:56:53

just hide in the background and let this

00:56:56

no-handed bandit character take all the

00:56:59

knives. It's similar to like Batman,

00:57:01

like he makes up this identity that

00:57:04

takes all the the difficult parts and uh

00:57:09

and then he has the Bruce Wayne part

00:57:11

that's

00:57:12

>> uh alone in his house taking care of

00:57:14

himself.

00:57:15

>> I take all the knives as an

00:57:18

>> uh like people when you put yourself out

00:57:21

there, people will criticize you like

00:57:23

say, "Oh, that's not how you do it if

00:57:26

you have hooks." This is a better way.

00:57:28

And I think by making this alternate

00:57:32

identity then I was able to find the

00:57:34

courage to say hey this is how I do it

00:57:37

you know

00:57:37

>> like an alter ego.

00:57:38

>> Yeah.

00:57:39

>> Yeah. Well um you know Kobe Bryant.

00:57:41

>> Yeah. So he mumba mentality.

00:57:44

>> Yeah. Black Mamba. Black Mamba. He's

00:57:45

like oh yeah you want to

00:57:46

>> Yeah. It's something he created. So

00:57:48

Black Mamba was the guy on the court

00:57:51

>> and Kobe Bryant was the guy off the

00:57:53

court. He flipped into this um Yeah.

00:57:55

Mamba mentality.

00:57:56

>> Mhm.

00:57:56

>> Yeah. Um, what's the most meaningful uh

00:57:59

message or comment, you know, you've

00:58:01

received on social media?

00:58:03

>> Uh, anything that stands out?

00:58:05

>> So, just the personal thank yous. Um, a

00:58:09

lot of times they'll reach out to me,

00:58:10

another amputee, and say, "Thank you for

00:58:13

making that video." Like more recently,

00:58:15

like when I first got here to New

00:58:18

Zealand, a guy reached out to me and he

00:58:20

said, "How do you put on a jacket? It's

00:58:22

getting cold over here." And I was like,

00:58:24

"Oh, this guy needs to find out how to

00:58:26

put on a jacket." I made a video

00:58:28

immediately in my hotel room and posted

00:58:31

it. And uh the guy, he had looked at

00:58:35

another guy's video and the other guy's

00:58:38

name Billy P. Uh but his amputations are

00:58:42

different. And so whatever way he put on

00:58:44

the coat, he said, "I can't do it that

00:58:46

way." And so I made my video and then he

00:58:49

reached out to me yesterday and said,

00:58:52

"Thank you for making that video." But

00:58:54

he also wanted to set me up with his

00:58:56

daughter at the same time.

00:59:00

>> Oh, what happens in New Zealand stays in

00:59:02

New Zealand, isn't that?

00:59:05

Um, yeah. Well, that's really cool.

00:59:07

What's been the most successful video

00:59:08

you've done so far? Um, so a lot of the

00:59:13

the more views are talking about shoes

00:59:16

that you don't have to tie the laces.

00:59:19

And I think that's because

00:59:22

>> sometimes when you fight for something

00:59:24

to change, like for example, those

00:59:26

buttons that the door opens

00:59:28

automatically, it not only helps the

00:59:31

people that have no hands, but it helps

00:59:34

people that are in wheelchairs. And so I

00:59:36

think talking about shoes that people

00:59:39

don't have to use laces,

00:59:41

>> the old people can benefit from it. Um,

00:59:45

people that have hurt backs that can't

00:59:47

bend over can benefit. So it's the shoes

00:59:50

video that's uh has the most views, but

00:59:53

the most impactful one is like talking

00:59:55

about going to the toilet and wiping

00:59:58

your bottom. Like that one has like

01:00:00

8,000 views. And it's because men when

01:00:04

they're faced with occupational

01:00:06

therapist, that's a question they don't

01:00:08

want to ask to the lady. How do I wipe

01:00:11

my bottom? Uh they want to talk to

01:00:13

somebody that that is a double hand

01:00:15

ampute and they won't say it and they'll

01:00:18

just search it on YouTube, you know?

01:00:20

>> Yeah. There's like I mean there's a

01:00:23

there there's a sense of mourning from

01:00:24

losing your independence, but also

01:00:25

there's like I suppose a sense of shame

01:00:27

or embarrassment. Yeah. Yeah.

01:00:29

>> How do you How do you wipe your butt?

01:00:31

>> So it's I

01:00:33

>> very carefully.

01:00:34

>> Yeah. Very carefully.

01:00:37

Uh, so I just, so this is the thing that

01:00:41

Jason Koger taught me is like you want

01:00:43

to make sure the hook is pointing up and

01:00:46

the the flex the wrist and then you'll

01:00:49

pick up the toilet paper like this and

01:00:52

then you'll turn it this way and then go

01:00:55

back there um and wipe your bottom and

01:00:58

then turn it and drop it into the

01:01:02

toilet. Yeah.

01:01:03

>> Oh, and you've been to Ukraine recently.

01:01:05

>> Yeah.

01:01:06

>> Yeah. How did how did that come about?

01:01:08

>> So, a nonprofit organization that uh

01:01:11

works with Ukrainian uh soldiers, they

01:01:14

contacted the this other nonprofit

01:01:16

organization in in uh United States and

01:01:20

they said, "We want to have a conference

01:01:22

where

01:01:24

you have people that come and

01:01:26

demonstrate how to do this because

01:01:28

they're they're they're losing a lot of

01:01:30

limbs out there in Ukraine." And uh and

01:01:33

then the lady reached out to me and she

01:01:35

said, "Would you go to Ukraine? Do you

01:01:37

have a passport?" And I was like, "Yeah,

01:01:38

I'll go to Ukraine." Um and yeah, that

01:01:42

was a a really eyeopening experience to

01:01:46

see uh how they're living over there and

01:01:49

how war changes things and how um their

01:01:53

men are coping with losing their limbs.

01:01:57

Yep.

01:01:57

>> Yeah. What were your greatest takeaways

01:01:59

from Ukraine? Uh, I think my greatest

01:02:01

takeaway was um

01:02:05

those people or Ukrainian people,

01:02:09

they're just like us. Um, and the only

01:02:13

thing they they want is just to be able

01:02:15

to take care of themselves. Just like uh

01:02:18

we're me and you are both fiercely

01:02:20

independent. There's men over there that

01:02:22

are losing their hands that are fiercely

01:02:24

independent. And uh I think uh I think

01:02:29

everyone

01:02:32

you know is in search of taking care of

01:02:36

their family um taking care of

01:02:38

themselves and if they can learn that

01:02:42

then they will be happy people. And it's

01:02:45

funny cuz they were looking at us

01:02:48

Americans when we first got there and

01:02:51

they weren't able to talk English. uh

01:02:54

they talked to each other, but they were

01:02:56

looking at us like, "Hey, that guy's

01:02:59

cheating. I don't know what he's doing,

01:03:00

but he's able to do everything I can't."

01:03:03

>> And uh

01:03:05

>> and then I taught them all the little

01:03:07

tricks. And then in the end, they spoke

01:03:09

in a little bit of broken English and

01:03:12

said, "Hey, when I first saw you, I

01:03:14

thought you were cheating, but now that

01:03:16

I know uh how to do it, I'm so

01:03:19

appreciative." And I think that's just

01:03:22

everyone's quest is to take care of

01:03:24

themselves, you know.

01:03:25

>> Yeah. Well, I I suppose it's like the

01:03:27

impact Jason had on you. It's just

01:03:29

showing you what is possible.

01:03:30

>> Yeah. Exactly. Uh I think the other

01:03:33

thing is like marketing is crazy cuz

01:03:35

marketing will sell you those robot

01:03:37

hands, but uh a lot of times those robot

01:03:40

hands for a double hand ampute aren't

01:03:43

the most functional thing. And so I

01:03:45

think a lot of what's going on over

01:03:47

there is they're falling for those

01:03:50

marketing and rather than make uh these

01:03:54

hooks with cabled driven system, they're

01:03:57

going with those robot hands and finding

01:04:00

out this is hard. Um I have to be super

01:04:04

patient and I can't you can't pick up

01:04:07

credit cards or coins off the ground. So

01:04:10

yeah.

01:04:12

Do you hope there's um I mean on the big

01:04:14

scheme of things, you're still

01:04:15

relatively young, right? In your late

01:04:17

40s. Do do you hope that with AI or

01:04:20

whatever advancements come along, things

01:04:21

will get um better or improvements will

01:04:24

be made or are you at peace if this is

01:04:26

as good as it gets?

01:04:27

>> Uh I always hope that there will be a

01:04:30

Luke Skywalker hand. I you know that

01:04:32

that's just the dream. Uh or a Winter

01:04:35

Soldier guy arm. Um, but the other thing

01:04:38

is that uh I at the same time while

01:04:41

hoping, you can't just sit there and

01:04:44

hope for it. You have to be able to go

01:04:46

out and and uh function in life. So, uh

01:04:50

I'm content where I'm at, but I'm with

01:04:52

the hopeful uh hopeful attitude of

01:04:57

technology progressing along.

01:04:59

>> Yeah, it's a good space to be playing

01:05:00

in. And it's um it's a life of service

01:05:02

now. way. Like you mentioned Ukraine

01:05:04

just before and you're here in New

01:05:05

Zealand with um the burn support crew.

01:05:08

>> Yeah. How did that come about?

01:05:10

>> Yeah. Uh we were in uh that world burn

01:05:13

congress and I met Michelle Henry from

01:05:16

burn support group charitable trust and

01:05:18

uh she says you want to come to the

01:05:20

men's retreat uh virtually and that was

01:05:24

in

01:05:26

20 last year 2024. And so I virtually

01:05:30

tuned in to the men's support group and

01:05:33

then uh she messaged me after you want

01:05:36

to come in person and I was like yeah

01:05:38

I'll come in person and she brought it

01:05:40

before the board and they they approved

01:05:43

that uh I should come and they were able

01:05:46

to fund my my flight and take care of my

01:05:49

uh lodging and so I'm happy to be here

01:05:52

to help other other double hand amputees

01:05:55

and even other burn survivors.

01:05:57

>> Yeah. By the time this podcast comes out

01:05:59

in early 2026, um you'll be back home.

01:06:03

Um the men's retreat will be over. What

01:06:05

are you expecting from it? Like who's

01:06:06

going to be there? What do they hope

01:06:09

what do you hope they can get from you?

01:06:11

>> Uh well, that's the that's a good

01:06:14

question. Uh I always when I'm looking

01:06:16

at the Burns burn community, I bring my

01:06:21

full uh presence there, but I'm not

01:06:25

looking what I can give to them. I'm

01:06:27

looking what I can learn from them.

01:06:30

>> And so it's it's not a good space when

01:06:34

you're saying I'm the guy that teach you

01:06:36

guys something. It's more the better

01:06:39

place to be is what can I learn from

01:06:41

these guys? And then if you all in that

01:06:43

same headsp space, you all teach each

01:06:45

other uh different things. Uh for

01:06:48

example, I was one of the things I like

01:06:50

to do is drink cava. And yesterday we

01:06:53

had a little get together and there was

01:06:55

a Fijian gentleman and me and him, he's

01:06:58

a burn survivor, too. Um and he has

01:07:01

facial scarring and and things like

01:07:03

that. But just to be together and

01:07:06

drinking kava and telling stories, it it

01:07:09

feels like things are normal again or

01:07:12

the new normal. And so I think that's

01:07:15

the thing that I hope all of us can

01:07:18

learn is like the new normal is not so

01:07:21

bad.

01:07:22

>> Yeah.

01:07:23

>> Do you actually like hava?

01:07:25

>> I do like hava.

01:07:27

>> Do you like do you like the taste or the

01:07:29

feeling?

01:07:29

>> No. No. The taste is No. Uh yeah, I

01:07:32

don't like the taste, but there's some

01:07:34

cavos that's less uh they don't bite you

01:07:37

as hard, but yeah.

01:07:39

>> Well, I I quite like it. E, just the

01:07:41

that that tingling of the lips after the

01:07:43

second cup. It's not bad.

01:07:44

>> What What's it like meeting survivors

01:07:46

who um you know are exactly where you

01:07:48

were in 2010?

01:07:50

>> Um I always am inspired by other

01:07:54

survivors. Uh it it grounds me cuz

01:07:59

sometimes you could get to a place and

01:08:02

forget where you came from and forget

01:08:04

all the lessons you learned. But when I

01:08:06

meet someone that was like me in 2010,

01:08:09

I'm like, oh yeah, I remember

01:08:11

>> being in that situation.

01:08:13

>> And and then it it helps me feel like,

01:08:16

dang, I'm pretty pretty resilient from

01:08:20

getting to there to where I'm at. Uh,

01:08:23

and it helps me stay grounded.

01:08:25

>> In fact, I did meet another burn

01:08:27

survivor here that's in the same

01:08:29

situation I was at. And I was able to

01:08:32

talk to him and say, "Hey, I was in that

01:08:34

same situation. Uh, you can you you can

01:08:38

do it. You just got to practice. You

01:08:40

know,

01:08:41

>> don't be afraid to come outside of your

01:08:43

house."

01:08:44

>> That's so powerful.

01:08:46

>> Like the probably the beacon of hope

01:08:47

someone needs at that moment in their

01:08:49

life.

01:08:49

>> Yeah.

01:08:50

>> Yeah. What would you whether it's a a

01:08:52

burn accident, an amputation, or

01:08:54

something completely different, what

01:08:55

would you tell someone who's in the

01:08:56

first week or month after a

01:08:58

life-changing event?

01:09:00

>> Um,

01:09:03

I would say

01:09:07

I I think

01:09:09

I don't want to tell them what to do,

01:09:11

but I do share your story is what I

01:09:13

would tell them. Share your story

01:09:15

because the more you share your story,

01:09:18

the more stronger you'll get. and and

01:09:20

then by telling them to share their

01:09:23

story, I'm allowed to share my story.

01:09:26

And so sharing my story with them is

01:09:28

probably the most important thing I can

01:09:30

do.

01:09:31

>> Uh I don't want to tell anyone what to

01:09:34

do. It's when you visit someone in the

01:09:36

hospital, that's like the last thing

01:09:38

they want to hear is like, "Hey, you

01:09:40

should do this." It's more of, hey, I

01:09:44

used to be in the hospital just like

01:09:46

you're in right now and this is what I

01:09:49

did. Um, you can choose to do what I did

01:09:52

or you can choose to do whatever, but uh

01:09:56

that's the most important thing I can do

01:09:58

is share what I did.

01:10:00

>> And what advice would you give family or

01:10:02

friends supporting someone through an

01:10:05

amputation or a burn?

01:10:06

>> Um, there's a couple things. one is

01:10:09

they're still the same person.

01:10:11

>> Yeah.

01:10:12

>> Yeah. And I think sometimes when a

01:10:14

family member sees their their family

01:10:16

member uh as a burn survivor or a double

01:10:21

hand amputee or any amputee, they're

01:10:24

like, "Oh, poor thing is no longer

01:10:26

there." And uh I think the worst thing

01:10:29

was I had a friend that come and visit

01:10:31

me in the hospital and they were crying.

01:10:34

Uh they were crying like I died. I'm I'm

01:10:37

like I'm still here right in front of

01:10:38

your face. I'm still the same person. So

01:10:41

if they can treat them like the same

01:10:43

person that they were before the

01:10:45

accident, then they'll feel like the

01:10:46

same person. And then uh the other thing

01:10:49

is don't be too

01:10:53

babying them too much.

01:10:55

>> Mhm.

01:10:55

>> Cuz they need to

01:10:58

experience struggle. Even though they

01:11:00

might be in pain, experiencing struggle

01:11:03

will help them in the future.

01:11:07

Did you were there any books or

01:11:09

resources that you found particularly

01:11:10

helpful?

01:11:11

>> It's funny that you you talked about the

01:11:13

movie Shaw Shank Redemption.

01:11:15

>> Yeah, it's a great movie. Tim's Morgan

01:11:17

Freeman. So, one time uh I was just

01:11:21

after the Super Bowl in 2011

01:11:26

and uh my neighbor came and accused me

01:11:29

of hitting their car that was parked

01:11:32

outside. And at the time, I hadn't

01:11:34

driven my car at all. And so, I was so

01:11:38

mad that I was accused of being doing

01:11:41

something that I never did that I was

01:11:43

like, "How can I drive my car?" And I

01:11:45

threw my arms down with these arms and

01:11:48

like bent my hook on the the concrete

01:11:51

and my sister was like she saw me like

01:11:55

freaking out. And then when I came back

01:11:57

inside, I was like crying because I lost

01:12:00

control and and feeling remorse for

01:12:03

yelling at the guy for accusing me of

01:12:05

doing something. She sat me down and

01:12:07

watched the Sha Shank Redemption. And

01:12:10

that was one that was like one of the

01:12:14

more impactful things that she helped me

01:12:17

through was by showing me Sha Shank

01:12:20

Redemption. You can't lose hope. That's

01:12:22

the thing

01:12:23

>> is hope is so important.

01:12:26

>> Hope for like a brighter future. M

01:12:28

>> and I think

01:12:32

we're in these

01:12:34

struggles that are in a dark place, but

01:12:37

the number one thing to do is not stand

01:12:40

still. You got to take at least one step

01:12:42

forward.

01:12:43

>> And then when you get through with that

01:12:44

step, take another step.

01:12:46

>> And even though it's really dark, you'll

01:12:49

start to see a little speck of light and

01:12:51

keep going towards that light.

01:12:54

>> Sam, that's so powerful. Um, yeah. Do

01:12:58

you lose your call very often? Like that

01:12:59

incident in 2011? You you I mean, we've

01:13:01

been sitting down for an hour and a

01:13:02

quarter. You seem like a real

01:13:04

>> real levelheaded even sort of dude.

01:13:07

>> I can't imagine you getting two up or

01:13:09

two down.

01:13:09

>> Yeah. It's funny cuz uh my uh uh friend

01:13:13

that I play basketball with every week,

01:13:15

he was like, "Man, Sam, you were a

01:13:17

hotthead back in the day." And so I did

01:13:20

I did lose my cool when I uh before um

01:13:23

but he was talking about before I lost

01:13:26

my hands like I would fight lots of

01:13:28

people at the basketball court and uh

01:13:32

the more time passes the less of that

01:13:35

hothead Sam you'll see. Yeah.

01:13:38

>> I can't say it's like a switch that I

01:13:40

turn off and on but

01:13:42

>> slowly dims out.

01:13:44

And finally, what's the message you want

01:13:46

the world to take away from your story?

01:13:49

>> Um, I think uh the message is just that

01:13:52

message of hope. Um, if you're in a dark

01:13:55

place, the most important thing to do is

01:13:58

step one step at a time and and then

01:14:01

when you start seeing the light, uh,

01:14:04

just keep walking towards that light.

01:14:05

And it might take a long time. Like for

01:14:08

me,

01:14:10

um I'm just barely starting to to come

01:14:14

out of the tunnel.

01:14:16

But the thing that I didn't do was just

01:14:19

stop and sit there

01:14:21

>> and wait for the light to come to me

01:14:22

because it's not going to come to you.

01:14:24

You got to go do the work.

01:14:27

>> Yeah, that's the thing with anything in

01:14:28

life. Hey, no one's no one's no one's

01:14:30

coming to save you. I think it's a quote

01:14:32

from like Mel Robbins. It comes up on my

01:14:34

TikTok all the time. No one's coming to

01:14:35

save you. No one's coming to make you do

01:14:38

the thing. No one's coming to write the

01:14:39

business plan. Like anything that you

01:14:41

want, you got to do it.

01:14:42

>> That's right.

01:14:43

>> And you're a shining example of that,

01:14:44

mate. It's wonder it's been wonderful to

01:14:46

connect. It's been really cool.

01:14:47

>> Thank you so much.

01:14:48

>> Thank you so much for coming on the

01:14:50

podcast. Enjoy your time in New Zealand.

01:14:51

And um yeah, hopefully um people have

01:14:55

been inspired by this podcast and they

01:14:56

follow you on the social channels. Uh

01:14:58

the no-handed Bandit Sam Moana.

01:15:01

>> Yeah. Thank you. Cheers, brother.

01:15:02

Cheers.

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

90
Most inspiring
90
Best concept / idea
85
Most dramatic
85
Most quotable

Episode Highlights

Identity Loss
After losing his hands, he struggled with his sense of self and identity.
“I felt like I lost a sense of my identity.”
@ 00m 37s
April 26, 2026
Rebirth Celebration
He now celebrates his 'burniversary' as a day of rebirth and new identity.
“That’s the day I was born again.”
@ 13m 11s
April 26, 2026
Rock Bottom
Losing independence and relying on others for basic needs was rock bottom for him.
“That was rock bottom. I didn’t want to get up.”
@ 21m 57s
April 26, 2026
Living in the Present
He emphasizes the importance of focusing on the present to avoid depression and anxiety.
“You can either look back at the past and be depressed or live in the present.”
@ 26m 52s
April 26, 2026
The Power of Humor
Humor became a vital coping mechanism during recovery, helping him find joy again.
“If you can look at a situation and find something to smile about, it helps a lot.”
@ 31m 18s
April 26, 2026
Post-Traumatic Stress Growth
After trauma, there's an opportunity for growth and learning new skills.
“You can have post-traumatic stress disorder, but also there is an opportunity for post-traumatic stress growth.”
@ 42m 38s
April 26, 2026
Bouncing Forward
Instead of bouncing back, strive to be better after adversity.
“Why not strive to be better?”
@ 43m 51s
April 26, 2026
Finding Confidence
Confidence returned quickly after reaching out for support and taking on challenges.
“From February to March, I felt confident enough to fly on an airplane.”
@ 49m 52s
April 26, 2026
Inspiring Moments
Being on the Jumbotron at an NBA game reignited a sense of belonging and joy.
“It made me feel like, oh, this feels good. This feels like what it used to feel like.”
@ 52m 22s
April 26, 2026
Social Media Impact
Sharing experiences on social media has helped others navigate their own challenges.
“Thank you for making that video.”
@ 58m 13s
April 26, 2026
The Power of Sharing Stories
Sharing personal experiences can empower others and foster connection.
“"The more you share your story, the stronger you’ll get."”
@ 01h 09m 13s
April 26, 2026
Message of Hope
Encouragement to keep moving forward even in dark times.
“"When you start seeing the light, just keep walking towards that light."”
@ 01h 14m 04s
April 26, 2026

Episode Quotes

I believe I can do everything.
How Samoana Matagi Survived 14,400 Volts & Lost Both Hands
It’s like, oh man, this sucks.
How Samoana Matagi Survived 14,400 Volts & Lost Both Hands
If they can smile, I can smile too.
How Samoana Matagi Survived 14,400 Volts & Lost Both Hands
Instead of saying woe is me, look at the opportunity you have.
How Samoana Matagi Survived 14,400 Volts & Lost Both Hands
You can either choose to go down or you can choose to go up.
How Samoana Matagi Survived 14,400 Volts & Lost Both Hands
"You got to take at least one step forward.".
How Samoana Matagi Survived 14,400 Volts & Lost Both Hands

Key Moments

Identity Crisis10:40
Independence Lost21:51
Resilience Mindset37:16
Walls Closing In40:24
Post-Traumatic Growth42:38
Finding Support47:56
Ukrainian Experience1:01:42
Hope and Resilience1:13:52

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