Boy, 12, loses leg to grenade – Abu Dhabi surgery gives him a second chance

At just 12 years old, Anas Jebeihi’s childhood ended in an instant. Growing up in the West Bank, Palestine, he stumbled upon a rusted, “avocado-shaped” object while collecting grass for his sheep. Thinking it was harmless, he brought it home and tried to drill into it to hang his bookshelf.

It was a grenade.

The explosion left him without his left leg and his right eye.

Childhood shattered

That day, Anas not only lost parts of his body but also the simplicity of childhood. His life became a blur of hospital visits, eight different prosthetics across multiple countries, and the daily struggles of a boy living in the Tulkarm refugee camp amid with trauma in a region scarred by violence.

Life in the refugee camp

Yet, Anas refused to be defined by tragedy. Against all odds, he pursued his education, powered through the instability of refugee life – poor infrastructure, limited clean water, frequent power cuts, and constant insecurity. He even found solace in bodybuilding. Today, at 30, he’s completing a master’s degree in electrical engineering, determined to rewrite his story.

A second chance

However, his life changed once again, but this time for the better as he received a call from Burjeel Medical City (BMC) in Abu Dhabi. Under a pioneering Dh4 million initiative by Dr Shamsheer Vayalil, founder and chairman of Burjeel Holdings, Anas was selected for osseointegration surgery, a breakthrough procedure that anchors prosthetics directly to the skeleton. The surgery was led by Prof. Dr Munjed Al Muderis at the Al Muderis Osseointegration Clinic in BMC.
“When I got a call from Dr Munjed’s team, I started dancing in the street. I knew that it was going to be a life-changing moment,” Anas recalled, tears welling up.

Healing in the UAE

Abu Dhabi is now etched in Anas’s heart as a place of healing.
“My first prosthetic was in the UAE with the support of an initiative by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation, and now my first osseointegration is also here. This country has become a place of healing for me. I want to use my story to show other amputees that advanced treatments like this can transform lives,” Anas said.