60 Minutes: Tragic twist in story of US soldier who received prosthetic leg from Sydney surgeon

An Iraqi-born surgeon flees Saddam for a better life in Australia.

He gets the opportunity to operate on a charismatic US war veteran who lost a leg in Iraq.  

This was the story of Munjed Al Muderis and former army Captain Luis Montalvan. 

It was to be an uplifting yarn.

Two characters, with strong personalities, coming together after their shared experiences in Iraq.

When I first met Luis in Sydney as he prepared for the operation, I was struck by his unbridled optimism. 

It was surprising given what he had been through.

In 2003 while on patrol, he was stabbed at a checkpoint in Al Waleed in Iraq. 

He left the army in in 2007, diagnosed with post-traumatic stress.

A turning point in his life was when he was introduced to a service dog, a golden retriever called Tuesday. They became inseparable. 

He wrote a New York Times best-seller, Until Tuesday: A Wounded Warrior and the Golden Retriever who saved him.

In 2016, due to complications from the attack Luis had his right leg amputated. 

This is where Dr Al Muderis entered his life. 

He arrived in Australia as an asylum seeker with little more than his old anatomy text book, nearly two decades later he has a thriving practice in north-west Sydney as an orthopaedic surgeon specialising in osseointegration.

A titanium rod is inserted into the femur; the end simply clicks onto a prosthetic leg.

It offers greater comfort and movement than the old socket prosthesis.

So the scene was set.

We spent the best part of a day with Luis before the operation. He explained to me how uncomfortable his “stump in a bucket” prosthetic leg had become.

The new “leg”, he said, would change his life. He even spoke of plans to row in the next Invictus Games.

The operation barely lasted an hour.

We watched as Munjed and his team tapped and screwed the titanium rod into Luis’s thigh.

Before and after the operation I noticed an unmistakable bond between the two men: the soldier and the surgeon. 

In post op, Munjed greeted Luis and told him the operation was a success. 

What I found strange and sad was when Munjed asked Luis if there was anyone in the US he wanted to call; Luis slowly shook his head to say no.

In the days later we spent many days filming Luis’s rehabilitation.

His progress was remarkable. What he couldn’t believe was the degree of sensitivity the leg had given him; he could feel the carpet under his prosthetic leg.

He couldn’t wait to return to the US to begin training and of course to see Tuesday.

We had our story, or so we thought.  

Before the story aired I received a phone call from 60 Minutes producer Steve Jackson. 

He explained that he had just learned that Luis had been found dead in a hotel in El Paso, Texas. 

Shock doesn’t come close to describing how we both felt. We were incredulous.

Luis seemed to embody every element of the term "survivor".

He’d had suffered through a war, lost a leg but seemed to be through to the other side.

But it seems Luis’s PTS had dragged him back down into the depths of depression. Luis took his own life.

At first we were unsure about our story. But it soon became clear to us that Luis’s story, in fact, had more potency.

A story his parents wanted us to tell.

I have great memories of Luis. I think his spirit does shine in our story.

However, I do have one regret.

Before he left Australia, we planned to catch up at my local dog park.

He wanted to see my retriever cross called Connie. Time and circumstances got in the way.

Luis was buried with full military honours at Arlington National cemetery.

He left Tuesday with a family in Texas, where he now lives and continues as a service dog assisting another in need.

If this story has raised any issues for you, please know that help is available. Contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or via: https://www.lifeline.org.au/

For more on 60 Minutes, head to: https://www.9now.com.au/60-minutes/2018/extras