US soldier welcomes double arm transplant
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U.S. Army Sgt. Brendan Marrocco of Staten Island, New York, who lost his four limbs in a 2009 roadside bomb attack in Iraq, attends a news conference after receiving double arm transplants, performed by a Hopkins medical team at The John Hopkins Hospital, in Baltimore, Maryland January 29, 2013. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
WASHINGTON (AFP) - A US soldier who lost all of his limbs in a bomb attack in Iraq in 2009 said on Tuesday he feels like himself again after he received a rare double arm transplant.
Brendan Marrocco, a former infantryman who was the first serviceman to survive quadruple limb loss in the Iraq war, underwent the complex 13-hour surgery six weeks ago.
He is one of just seven people in the United States who have successfully received double arm transplants, and doctors warn he has a long way to go before he can be certain his body will not reject the transplant.
"Currently I don't really have feeling or motion in my hands yet. But we'll get there," Mr Marrocco said at a press conference, in his first public appearance since the surgery.
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