Chad Rachman
Army Sgt. Brendan Marrocco
The first soldier to survive after losing all four limbs in the Iraq war has received a double-arm transplant in Baltimore.
His father says Brendan Marrocco had the operation on Dec. 18 at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Marrocco is 26 and lives in Staten Island. He was injured by a roadside bomb in 2009.
He also received bone marrow from the same donor who supplied his new arms. That novel approach is aimed at helping his body accept the new limbs with minimal medication to prevent rejection.
It is the seventh double-hand or double-arm transplant done in the United States. The military is sponsoring operations like these to help wounded troops. About 300 have lost arms or hands in the wars.
Surgeons plan to discuss the transplant Tuesday.
Marrocco was a high school student on Staten Island on Sept. 11, 2001, when the terrorism attack on the World Trade Center set in motion historic events that would define his life in devastating ways.
"Being a New Yorker, it's just great to see it," Marrocco said this past Independence Day while sitting in a wheelchair at the lip of one of the two mammoth reflecting pools that dominate the site where the twin towers once stood.
The disabled soldiers' visit to ground zero was organized by the Gary Sinise Foundation — started by the actor who played the amputee character Lieutenant Dan in the film "Forrest Gump" — and by The Stephen Stiller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, named after a New York City firefighter who died responding to the 9/11 attack. The charities are working together to build so-called "smart homes" that allow the wounded veterans to lead more independent lives.
"It's just a relief to not have to rely on other people so much," Marrocco, whose arms and legs were blown off by a roadside bomb in April 2009, said of moving in with his brother.
Marrocco said at the time he has no regrets.
"I wouldn't change it in any way. ... I feel great. I'm still the same person."
Marrocco "totally rejects that hero stuff," said his father, Alex. "In his mind, he was just doing his job."
SI soldier who lost all 4 limbs has double-arm transplant
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SI soldier who lost all 4 limbs has double-arm transplant
