ST. LOUIS - Surreal. That's how a south St. Louis man describes the moment he woke up in a South African hospital after being attacked by two chimpanzees.
Andrew Oberle made headlines around the world, and until now, he had never told his story in public before. But it is one of extraordinary strength, courage and healing.
The story begins in 2012 in South Africa when Andrew was 26-years-old. He was a graduate student at the University of Texas at San Antonio, working on his master's thesis. The report centered around tool use among chimpanzees and had taken him to the Jane Goodall Institute's chimpanzee sanctuary outside of Johannesburg.
In 2010 Andrew had spent a month volunteering at the sanctuary. Upon his return in 2012, his thesis work allowed him to bait an artificial termite mound, and observe and record chimp behavior.
"I'd leave the enclosure, and then they'd come out," recalled Andrew. "And you'd get to watch them make tools, or pick up sticks, or big things of grass, and kind of fashion them, and stick them into the termite mound and pull it out. It was amazing. It's so cool to watch."
Andrew fell in love with chimpanzees in second grade, the day his teacher brought a book on primatologist Jane Goodall to Epiphany of Our Lord Catholic School in South St. Louis.
"My mom told me I went home that day and told her I want to work with chimps," said Andrew.
What he never imagined is that living his dream studying the animals he loves would almost cost him his life.
UNSPEAKABLE ORDEAL
"It's something I'm not comfortable sharing with everybody," said Andrew about the accident involving the two chimpanzees. "I do talk about it with other people, my family and friends, but something I'm not comfortable sharing with everybody yet."
What he is comfortable sharing is the extraordinary story of his recovery, the sometimes painful, but amazingly upbeat months and years that have followed.
"I remember waking up in the hospital in South Africa, kind of opening my eyes," said Andrew, "and looking up, and seeing my dad just kind of leaning over the bed, kind of with big, wide eyes." He had major injuries to his face, arms and legs and needed hours of surgery to close his wounds. He was initially in critical condition, on a ventilator, and unable to talk.
"It was a very surreal situation, when I think back about it now, it's almost like a dream almost," said Andrew. "I feel incredibly lucky to be alive. I wasn't really aware of it until I was told, but I lost a lot of blood, I had a lot of infection going on, and it wasn't looking good for me."
There was lots of pain, and lots of time to think.
"I thought a lot about how lucky I am," said Andrew. "I'm in this hospital, it's a very insane situation. But the fact that I'm alive to think, that was a huge prize to me and it really carried me."
Doctors told this young, fit marathon runner he might never walk again.
"Once I could talk, and I was able to kind of express my feelings out loud, especially with my mom, I did have several instances where I felt pretty helpless and hopeless," said Andrew.
Some days, he didn't even want to get out of bed, because he was in so much pain. But then his mom started reading the thousands of cards that were coming in.
"She hung pictures on the wall, and also hung a picture of my dog up on the wall, which she's my baby, so that always inspired me too," said Andrew.
He met a hospital worker who sparked his desire to heal.
"We talked about, these things happen, and it's not why it happened, it's not who it happened to, but it's how that person moves on from that point," said Andrew. "When I really got into the physical therapy was when they told me, okay, we've got to get you sitting up on the edge of the bed so you can fly home."
He came home to Saint Louis University Hospital, and what would be 22 operations to regrow his nose, give him function in his hands and feet, and help him heal emotionally.
Then, in 2014, about a year-and-a-half after he almost lost his life in South Africa, Andrew walked back into the YMCA in south St. Louis. His goal was to continue to rehab, but deep down, he was determined to run again.
"When I first got out of my wheelchair, I could only walk 50 feet with a walker. Now I can run a few miles," said Andrew. "You know the doctors told me probably the shape I was in did keep me alive. So knowing that especially, I'm never going to waste another day in a gym."
Grateful describes the life he lives now, and what he's suffered at the hands of the animals he loves hasn't lessened his affection for them.
"I harbor no hard feelings against chimpanzees for what happened to me, and I hope to someday still be able to do my part to help save them," said Andrew.
ANDREW MAKES A 'MIRACULOUS' RECOVERY
In the years since being severely mauled by two chimpanzees, Andrew has had to re-learn how to walk, use his hands, even smile.
"Let me see you do it, try to smile, so it's coming back that's good," said Dr. Bruce Kraemer, the SLUCare plastic surgeon at St. Louis University Hospital who oversaw Andrew's case since his arrival back home.
Each and every meeting with Dr. Kraemer is an opportunity to celebrate.
"I can straighten this one out all the way which I couldn't do before," said Andrew, as he shows Dr. Kraemer some new movement he's regained in his hand.
"Yeah, that's awesome," replied Kraemer. "You worked hard on that."
RECOVERY AND REHABILITATION
It's a level of recovery and rehabilitation no one, not even Dr. Kraemer, could have dreamed possible when Andrew first arrived.
"Things weren't very pretty at the beginning," said Andrew, "and now things are miraculous. So I want to show the world the great work that my doctors did. It's insane."
Miraculous doesn't overstate how far he's come. With injuries all over his body, missing much of his nose, hands and feet, fighting infection much like a burn patient, Dr. Kraemer and his team would draw on every technique in their tool chest to help him heal.
"We did topical wound management, we did skin grafts, we did different kinds of flaps," explained Dr. Kraemer, describing the dozens of procedures done for Andrew.
Procedures like an abdominal flap. It's a multi-stage operation where skin from Andrew's stomach became skin to cover his forearm. Ironically, doctors reached into the animal world to treat these injuries caused by animals.
MatriStem is a material that looks like parmesan cheese, but it's an experimental tissue repair product made from pig bladder. It was used to regrow tissue all over Andrew's body.
"It really encourages the body to go through its own normal healing processes, it really limits scar," said Dr. Kraemer.
What was more difficult to limit was the pain.
"I just think he took himself to a mental place where you focus on what you can change and do and you try to let go of the other," said Dr. Kraemer.
Andrew's had 22 operations at Saint Louis University Hospital since arriving back in St. Louis two-and-a-half years ago. And while his recovery's been nothing short of remarkable, Dr. Kraemer says he's learned valuable lessons from Andrew, and techniques that are helping other patients each and every day.
But it's his patient's extraordinary spirit this doctor cherishes most.
"Andrew's taught me lessons of life that you can find positives in the darkest things," said Dr. Kraemer.
It's a positive outlook that's helped him adapt to this Robohand, a device made by a man in South Africa that's helping Andrew regain some of the hand function he lost.
"Grabbing a big dish out of the oven, like a casserole dish, puts a lot of stress on the one finger," said Andrew about his left hand.
And his sense of gratitude that stretches from San Antonio, where he'll earn his master's degree, to all of the doctors and nurses at Saint Louis University Hospital and at the two hospitals in South Africa who saved his life.
"It's overwhelming," said Andrew. "It really is. It's hard to wrap my head around just how awesome people are and how much they care about someone they don't even know and I'm very blessed."
Andrew will complete his master's degree in anthropology in May and is considering pursing a Ph.D. But he also sees himself combining his love of fitness with his desire to reach out to children and adults with disabilities.
And he says he would love to run another marathon, and maybe even attempt an Ironman triathlon.
THANK YOU
Andrew credits his mother with infusing him the strength to heal. But so many others have played a role in his remarkable recovery.
Here's Andrew, in his own words, thanking those who've helped him:
"I could take up this whole time slot giving you individuals I want to thank, but they know who they are and they know they mean so much to me.
"I do have to say a few names: my mom especially. She's been with me every day, pretty much every day. She took off work for several months and they let her. She was at the hospital with me every single day, at home with me every single day, until I pretty much made her go to work.
"My roommates, Anthony and Misa down in San Antonio. They were the ones that really raised awareness for me and put my story out there; really rallied the troops, and got Operation Oberle started. They're my best friends in the world, and I couldn't repay them for what they've done.
"Mr. Red McCombs, (a businessman and philanthropist) down in San Antonio, has done great things for me, has really upped the awareness even more, and brought in a lot of people that have helped me out tremendously.
"St. Louis University, the hospital, Helen Sandkuhl (administrative director of emergency, trauma and disaster services at St. Louis University Hospital), Tony McNeese, it was them who got me back into the U.S. They took my case on and said he can come here, so that's when the ball started rolling in South Africa so I could get home.
"Dr. Bruce Kraemer, (SLUCare plastic surgeon at St. Louis University Hospital) who's done amazing work on my entire body, and also helped me with kind of the mental healing aspect of it too. Also, my other doctor, Dr. (Michael) Bernstein who gave me my nose; Dr. (David) Karges who fixed my ankle so I could actually walk again; all of my physical therapists and occupational therapists, the speech therapists, my Uncle Danny who was also really important, helpful, in getting me into SLU. The list goes on and on.
"My San Antonio Zoo family, my St. Louis Zoo family, my St. Mary's High School and St. Mary's University family, my anthropology family at University of Texas at San Antonio, and all of the friends I've made since this happened that have reached out to me.
"It's overwhelming. It really is. It's hard to wrap my head around just how awesome people are, and how much they care about someone they don't even know and I'm very blessed."
He been overwhelmed by the friends and even strangers who've reached out to help him. From his mom, to the doctors and staff at Saint Louis University Hospital and his friends and classmates in San Antonio, look for a list of people Andrew wants to thank on his website and Facebook page.
In part two of this story, Andrew talks about his "miraculous" recovery. It was one even his doctors couldn't have predicted.
