Iraq war veteran Brendan Marrocco speaks at a press conference after a surgical team lead by Johns Hopkins physicians successfully performed the hospitalÃs first bilateral arm transplant, Baltimore, Md., Tuesday, January 29, 2013. Marrocco, who lost all four limbs from a bomb outside Baghdad, Iraq., is expected to slowly develop control over his new arms over the next year and a half. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)
Surgical team leader Dr. W.P. Andrew Lee speaks at a press conference to announce the Johns Hopkins Hospital's first successful bilateral arm transplant performed on Iraq war veteran Brendan Marrocco, Baltimore, Md., Tuesday, January 29, 2013. Marrocco, who lost all four limbs from a bomb outside Baghdad, Iraq., is expected to slowly develop control over his new arms over the next year and a half. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)
A diagram of an arm transplant on display at a press conference to announce the successful completion of the Johns Hopkins Hospital's first bilateral arm transplant performed on Iraq war veteran Brendan Marrocco, Baltimore, Md., Tuesday, January 29, 2013. Marrocco lost all four limbs from a bomb outside Baghdad, Iraq. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)
Iraq war veteran Brendan Marrocco at a press conference after a surgical team lead by Johns Hopkins physicians successfully performed the hospitalÃs first bilateral arm transplant, Baltimore, Md., Tuesday, January 29, 2013. Marrocco, who lost all four limbs from a bomb outside Baghdad, Iraq., is expected to slowly develop control over his new arms over the next year and a half. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)
Iraq war veteran Brendan Marrocco's new arms are visible as he speaks at a press conference after his surgical team lead by Johns Hopkins physicians successfully performed the hospitalÃs first bilateral arm transplant, Baltimore, Md., Tuesday, January 29, 2013. Marrocco lost all four limbs from a bomb outside Baghdad, Iraq. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)
Iraq war veteran Brendan Marrocco speaks at a press conference after a surgical team lead by Johns Hopkins physicians successfully performed the hospitalÃs first bilateral arm transplant, Baltimore, Md., Tuesday, January 29, 2013. Marrocco, who lost all four limbs from a bomb outside Baghdad, Iraq., is expected to slowly develop control over his new arms over the next year and a half. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)
Surgical team leader Dr. W.P. Andrew Lee speaks at a press conference to announce the Johns Hopkins Hospital's first successful bilateral arm transplant performed on Iraq war veteran Brendan Marrocco, Baltimore, Md., Tuesday, January 29, 2013. Marrocco, who lost all four limbs from a bomb outside Baghdad, Iraq., is expected to slowly develop control over his new arms over the next year and a half. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)
Iraq war veteran Brendan Marrocco, second from left, speaks at a press conference next to members of his surgical team lead by Johns Hopkins physicians who successfully performed the hospitalÃs first bilateral arm transplant, Baltimore, Md., Tuesday, January 29, 2013. Marrocco, who lost all four limbs from a bomb outside Baghdad, Iraq., is expected to slowly develop control over his new arms over the next year and a half. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)
Alex Marrocco, right, the father of Iraq war veteran Brendan Marrocco appears to get emotional as his son speaks at a press conference after a surgical team lead by Johns Hopkins physicians successfully performed the hospitalÃs first bilateral arm transplant on him, Baltimore, Md., Tuesday, January 29, 2013. Marrocco, who lost all four limbs from a bomb outside Baghdad, Iraq., is expected to slowly develop control over his new arms over the next year and a half. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)
Iraq war veteran Brendan Marrocco speaks at a press conference after a surgical team lead by Johns Hopkins physicians successfully performed the hospitalÃs first bilateral arm transplant, Baltimore, Md., Tuesday, January 29, 2013. Marrocco lost all four limbs from a bomb outside Baghdad, Iraq. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)
Iraq war veteran Brendan Marrocco, center, finishes a press conference along with two of his surgical team members Dr. Gerald Brandacher, left, and the team's leader Dr. W.P. Andrew Lee, right, Baltimore, Md., Tuesday, January 29, 2013. The surgical team successfully performed the hospitalÃs first bilateral arm transplant on Marrocco who lost all four limbs from a bomb outside Baghdad, Iraq. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)
Iraq war veteran Brendan Marrocco departs after a press conference after a surgical team lead by Johns Hopkins physicians who successfully performed the hospitalÃs first bilateral arm transplant on him, Baltimore, Md., Tuesday, January 29, 2013. Marrocco, who lost all four limbs from a bomb outside Baghdad, Iraq., is expected to slowly develop control over his new arms over the next year and a half. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)
In a Dec. 18, 2012 photo provided by Johns Hopkins Medical, a surgical team at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore works on a double arm transplant for U.S. Army infantryman Brendan Marroco, 26, who lost all four limbs in Iraq. The transplants are only the seventh double-hand or double-arm transplant ever conducted in the United States. The infantryman was injured by a roadside bomb in 2009. (AP Photo/Johns Hopkins Medical) 
Iraq war veteran Brendan Marrocco at a press conference after a surgical ... more >
After losing his arms and legs to a roadside bomb, finding the courage for a risky double-transplant surgery, and now facing years of grueling rehabilitation to regain the use of two donated arms, it’s fitting that 26-year-old former soldier Brendan Marrocco said his favorite character in the Harry Potter book series is the young wizard himself — “the boy who lived.”
Wearing an easy smile and bandages that covered his arms from his biceps to his wrists, Mr. Marrocco spoke at Johns Hopkins Hospital on Tuesday about the significance of the operation and what new arms will mean for his independence.
“I never really accepted the fact I didn’t have arms,” Mr. Marrocco said. “Now I have them back, and it’s like I went back four years and I’m me again.”
The successful transplant was the first of its kind at the hospital and only the seventh to be performed in the United States.
Dr. W.P. Andrew Lee, director of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine’s plastic surgery department, and the head of the transplant team that gave Mr. Marrocco his arms, said the young man’s progress will be slow but steady. The nerves take time to heal, so Mr. Marrocco’s range of motion is expanding by roughly an inch per month.
“It’s a second chance to start over after I got hurt,” Mr. Marrocco said. “I was feeling great before this. I’m feeling a lot better now.”
Dr. Jaimie Shores, assistant professor of plastic and reconstructive surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, explained that it would take two or three years before doctors would see the full extent of Mr. Marrocco’s ability to use his new arms.
“Right now, we’re the ones holding him back,” he said, but in the future, “I don’t think there’s much we’re going to keep him from doing.”
Mr. Marrocco’s left arm was amputated to the elbow, which means he has greater control of that arm. His right arm and hand are taking longer to develop, but he was able to push his wheelchair using both arms.
The 13-hour surgery was performed at the Baltimore hospital on Dec. 18, and for the past six weeks Mr. Marrocco has been taking medicine to keep his body from fighting the foreign appendages, while also pushing himself through hours of rehabilitation.
Throughout the roughly hourlong briefing, Mr. Marrocco displayed a range of abilities he has honed since his surgery, along with a sense of humor.
Asked whether he had any plans to go to college or get a professional job, Mr. Marrocco said he had thought about it, but “I get paid to do nothing. I get paid to do what I want, when I want.
“I guess I’ll just be a drain on society for the rest of my life,” he said with a grin.
His surgeons quickly pointed out that Mr. Marrocco’s days are filled with hours of painful rehabilitation, but the young man fired back that playing video games all day would be a good alternative.
In 2009, Mr. Marrocco lost his arms and both his legs in Iraq — at the time he was an Army infantryman — when a bomb struck the vehicle he was riding.
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Meredith Somers is a Metro reporter for The Washington Times. She can be reached at msomers@washingtontimes.com.
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