Army Sgt. Brendan Marrocco of Staten Island, N.Y., wearing a prosthetic arm, poses for a picture at the 9/11 Memorial in New York. Marrocco, 26, the first soldier to survive losing all four limbs in the Iraq war, has received a double-arm transplant in Baltimore. His father, Alex Marrocco, said Monday that his son had the operation on Dec. 18, at Johns Hopkins Hospital.The first soldier to survive after losing all four limbs in the Iraq war has received a double-arm transplant.
Brendan Marrocco had the operation on Dec. 18 at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, his father said Monday. The 26-year-old Marrocco, who is from New York City, was injured by a roadside bomb in 2009.
He also received bone marrow from the same dead 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.
The military is sponsoring operations like these to help wounded troops. About 300 have lost arms or hands in the wars.
“He was the first quad amputee to survive” from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and there have been four others since then, said Brendan Marrocco’s father, Alex Marrocco. “He was really excited to get new arms.”