| Audio | Visual |
|---|---|
| Soft music is playing | WSIB logo |
| Background music | A life can change in a moment, in ways you’d never imagine. |
[Eli is speaking.]
It was the 23rd of October 2017. | A man wearing a hardhat and a safety vest is walking toward a pickup truck. |
| We were changing poles. | The man wearing the safety vest is getting into the driver’s seat of the pickup truck. |
| I was installing a bracket on the pole, | A person in a safety jumpsuit is walking up the steps of a truck toward the bucket of a hydraulic lift. |
| and as I pulled it out, | Close up of the brackets and equipment at the top of a hydro pole. |
| I brought it a little too far from my body. | End of tree branches in foreground with person in the hydraulic lift bucket in the background. |
| Made contact with a live phase. | A reel of cable and a flashing light on the back of a truck. |
| Electrocution happened. | Lamp on top of hydro pole in background, power lines in foreground. |
| Your whole body just clenches. You lock up. It’s just a big, bright flash. | Power lines against a gloomy sky. |
| But once the power shut off, I was basically just a puddle of bones and skin at that point. | The reflection of a traffic cone in a puddle. |
| I could hear everybody kind of yelling my name, but I couldn’t move at all. | People in lab coats are wheeling a person on a gurney toward an open door. |
[Eli’s fiancée, Felicia, is speaking.]
We were together about six to seven months before the accident. | Framed photograph of Eli kissing Felicia on her cheek.
A photograph of Felicia smiling while embracing Eli. |
| I remember worrying if he was not gonna make it through. | Photograph of Felicia and Eli smiling and looking into each other’s eyes. It’s clear they’re in love. |
| The first kind of information that we had gotten was that he would have amputations. | Close up of Felicia as she speaks.
Photograph of Eli laying against pillows; Felicia is facing the camera with the back of her head on Eli’s chest. |
| I remember the odd time he would wake up and, you know, “I can’t feel my hands.” We’re like, “I know, I know.” | Close up of Felicia as she speaks |
[Eli is speaking.]
I was in an induced coma for about a month. | A photo of Eli lying in a hospital bed, hooked up to medical monitors and gauges. |
| First amputation was above the wrist, and then they realized things were still in tough shape, so then they went above the elbow on both sides, as well as some skin grafting from about the middle of my stomach all the way around my back, that’s where the exit wound was. | Split-screen images of Eli after the amputations, both of his arms are missing below the elbow.
The image on the right shows him in a hospital gown walking in a hospital corridor with the support of a health care worker on his right side. He has a tube coming out of his nose and a catheter bag is hanging from the tie at his waist.
Split-screen images of Eli with most of each arm missing. The image the right shows him seated wearing a tee shirt that is pulled up to reveal a large scar on his left side, while a healthcare worker assists him.
The image on the right shows Eli standing in a hospital room. He has a tube in his nose, but he smiles as he shows the scars on arms from the amputation. |
| I was able to just slowly adjust to the fact that I didn’t have arms, and I guess I was just committed right from day one to, “Okay, this is the position we’re in now. Let’s figure out how we’re going to go forward from here and still have a good quality of life.” | Eli is wearing prosthetic arms on both sides. At the end of each prosthetic arms are two hooks the pinch together. He’s using the hooks to hold a spoon and eat cereal from a bowl.
Eli is speaking while seated in a chair in his home. |
[Shane, Team Lead of Prosthetics, is speaking.]
I first met Eli when he was here in the burn unit. The injury was obviously a major injury. So, the first step – when we were able to get a prosthesis on to him – that he could do some basic activities. | Sunnybrook Health Sciences street sign.
Shane is working on prosthetic limbs in a lab.
Shane is seated, speaking in a room.
The image of part of a prosthetic limb flashes on a monitor screen.
Shane is working in the prosthetics lab.
Eli is putting prosthetic arms on. He’s easing into straps that go across his shoulders and moving his left arm to make sure the arm is fitting properly. |
[Marianne, WSIB Return-to-Work Specialist, is speaking.]
First time I met Eli, I met with him and his fiancée. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but what I quickly came to realize is that there really were no barriers with Eli, just opportunities. And he was really, really eager to return to work, really motivated. | Marianne is seated at a table and working on a laptop computer.
Marianne is speaking.
Eli is wearing a Hydro One uniform and walking down a hallway at work, smiling.
Eli is standing, working on a computer using a stylus on a touchscreen. |
[Eli is speaking.]
Marianne, my return-to-work specialist, she was amazing. She made sure that I didn't just dive headfirst back into work and try and do everything that I thought I should be able to do. Even right at the very beginning when the accident happened, I knew I didn't have to worry about where the next pay cheque was gonna come from because that was WSIB’s thing.
I am currently an Area Distribution Engineering Technician for Hydro One. The role kept me interacting with the line group.
It also allowed me to feel like I was actually fitting a purpose. | Marianne is speaking on her phone while working on her laptop computer.
Close-up of Marianne speaking on her phone, smiling.
Eli is speaking in his home.
Eli is putting on his safety vest.
Eli is walking out of his house, closing the door behind him.
Eli is speaking in his home.
Photograph of Eli, Felicia and two large dogs. Eli is speaking in his home.
Eli is in an orange safety vest and putting on a hardhat.
Close up of a well-used hard hat and Eli using a joystick with the hooks on the end of one of his prosthetic arms.
Eli leans down to a hard hat on the table, puts is head into the hat and lifts his head as a way of putting the hard hat on without using his prosthetic arms.
Eli is opening the door of the Hydro One pickup truck and getting into the driver’s seat.
Eli is in the driver’s seat with his left prosthetic arm on the steering wheel. |
[Shane is speaking.]
He has stuck with everything that we’ve tried.
He didn’t let anything stop him. I think that willingness to move forward makes a big difference, for him, and well quite frankly, for anyone else in a similar situation. | Shane is seated at a table in the lab, working on a prosthetic limb.
Felicia and Eli are in their home. Felicia is buttoning Eli’s shirt.
Shane is speaking in a medical examination room, with a cot in the corner.
Eli is knocking firewood from a woodpile using his prosthetic arm. |
[Felicia is speaking.]
Just watching him grow to be the person he is now has just been really special. | Eli is putting firewood into an outdoor wood furnace using his right prosthetic arm and the tip of his right boot.
The door has a special, large handle that he operates with his prosthetic and pushes close with his knee. |
[Eli is speaking.]
I think for me, pushing through is just trying to go back to as much normalcy as possible. You have to have that internal drive to want to keep going. | Eli is in his home, smiling.
Eli is wearing a hardhat and safety vest, looking through binoculars.
Eli is in a work meeting with people in an office.
Eli is working at a computer, using the joystick to move around the screen.
Eli is face to face with one of the dogs.
Eli and Felicia are walking the dogs in front of their house. There is snow on the ground. |
| Upbeat music is playing. | The WSIB logo appears, with the words “Here to help” underneath it. |