Iraq War Quadruple Amputee Says He's "Fortunate"

(CBS)  Every once in a while, something happens or we meet someone and the experience is so powerful, it forces us to stop for a minute and think - and maybe readjust how we feel about our lives and the world around us.

CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports on an amazing, 23-year-old man from Staten Island, N.Y., who lost all his limbs fighting for his country, but never gave up his American Spirit.

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Sooner or later it had to happen - a soldier losing all four limbs and yet surviving. It happened to Brendan Marrocco on Easter Sunday of 2009 in Iraq, when his vehicle tripped a roadside bomb.

"It just took both arms, my left leg off completely and my right leg was still attached a little bit," Marrocco said, "and killed my gunner - my best friend."

Then there's that nasty scar on his neck.

"Yeah, I severed my carotid artery," Marrocco said. "That alone should have killed me."

Carotid artery severed, both arms and left leg completely off - why didn't he bleed to death? The answer is a gruesome irony: the heat of the blast instantly cauterized the same wounds it had caused.

"I was barely bleeding from them," Marrocco said. The same weapon that took half his body saved his life. Just barely.

"I wasn't expected to live," Marrocco recalled. "I died three times and came back." No pulse. "Flat-out dead."

Read More about Brendan Marrocco at his Website
Brendan Marrocco's American Spirit
Karzai Deeply Affected by Walter Reed Visit

Michael Anaya, his gunner and best friend, was killed, even though he was not as badly wounded.

Is Marrocco the luckiest guy on Earth or the unluckiest?

"A little bit of both I guess," he said. He's not bitter. He calls himself "very fortunate."

What he has is a very good sense of balance -- physical and emotional -- vowing, "I will not sit down and let my injuries take over my life."

Just ask his physical therapist Luis Garcia.

Working with a quadruple amputee is "a lot easier than I thought it would be," Garcia said. "Because of his character and his personality."

Brendan cracks jokes only he can get away with.

"There's times where he's just 'give me a hand. Can I just get a hand?' joking around," Garcia said.

But there is no sugar-coating his wounds. He has had to learn to walk without arms for balance or to break a fall.

He calls the missing arms worse "by far." "Without legs you can still be independent. You know, without arms there's so much more you can't do," Marrocco said.

He can - and has - still hit the ski slopes. And he's met Tiger Woods. It's not clear who's taking inspiration from who in the photo. After meeting Marrocco, it's hard to take anything in your own life for granted.

"I love walking," said Marrocco, who is now fitted with artificial legs. I'm just not at the point where I can wear them all the time. I wish I was." But he say's he'll get there: "No doubt about it. I will."

He uses a virtual reality chamber to practice walking on real world terrain.

He still needs a wheelchair for everyday locomotion. And the woman often seen pushing him is not a nurse. It's his fiancée, Kate Barsto. They met at Walter Reed.

"He's such an incredible person and people don't need to feel sorry for him," Barsto said. "He's going to do some great things in his life." Marrocco may never have a "normal" life in terms of his physical abilities, but, Barsto said, "He's better than normal to me."

And what else does he plan to do with his life?

"Get my bachelor's degree and master's degree and try and go maybe into the FBI or CIA," Marrocco said. He believes his injuries happened for a reason, part of God's plan.

What does he believe that plan includes? "So far it seems to be to inspire people and touch lives," Marroccco said.

It also seems Brendan Marrocco didn't just survive - he thrived.

[celinebautista_md_usa]

I have written a blog about this soldier: As I travel life's road

http://jocelyn53.wordpress.com/2010/07/12/as-i-travel-lifes-road/


Today I went to The Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington DC. In the elevator I saw this very young soldier, only 24, limbs almost cut up to his thighs, without arms, and without one eye. The left arm was cut just below the elbow and a prosthetic arm was in placed, while the other one was cut almost to the armpit. The prosthetic arm, he used to feed himself, move his chair around and do his private thing in the bathroom. When I saw him in the elevator, I wanted to cry aloud.
The ravages of war, that few people really know about. I have been to this Hospital several times and I have seen soldiers, mutilated, yet living.

I felt so small, when I saw this man today. I was told he was hit by a bomb in Iraq. The only one surviving man so far in this war, hit by bomb with out both arms and both legs and without one eye.

You may say life is unfair. Destiny? Is this his destiny? If this has happened to me, just the thought of it, makes me feel half dead.

I had my own share of tough times, but nothing compared to what I saw today. The young soldier seemed so small in his wheel chair, that other than the torso, it was just the movement of his head that seemed to make contact with the world around him.

I remember when I was a fresh graduate in college and the family was in great struggle. It was martial law time and the food and jobs were scarce. Even the company that my father worked for, though not sequestered by the government, still was in great distress.

Rice a basic commodity, was rationed. Salaries were not paid in full because there was not enough cash available in the bank.

It was New Year?s Day. January 1. Some neighbors were able to celebrate the event of the night before. We had a pig in our backyard that my mother used to keep. We fed her with the left over foods thrown by our nearest neighbor. We kept a plastic container in their outside kitchen for collection every morning.

That morning, my mother saw a freshly thrown carcass of a roasted pig in one of the plastic containers for left overs from one of our neighbors. She left the neighbor?s kitchen with a smile on her lips. The night before, we celebrated New Year?s Eve, with a big bottle of Coca Cola and a pack of bread.

We woke up with a delicious smell coming from the kitchen. My mother, instead of feeding the pig with the carcass of a roasted pig that came from the plastic container from our neighbor?s kitchen, she washed it and cut it into nice little pieces, put in some sweet smelling herbs that grew in our backyard and presto, we had a breakfast so good that we have not tasted for a long time.

Despite the good smell of the food, I felt small that morning. My spirit was so low and I really felt sorry for myself and for my family, that I thought we were the lowly creatures in earth eating the left overs of the neighbors. Just how I felt for the soldier today, I wanted to cry aloud then.

But it did not take long. It was one of those crisis in our lives that fueled me to strive even more. Not too long, I got a good job, and that incident became the ? family joke? that took center stage whenever there was a gathering of some sort in the household.

This is just one of those milestones in my life that will never be forgotten. I will find it hard to forget, not because I have suffered from it, but because I rose above it.

But how one can rise in a situation where there is no more. I have heard that this young soldier will get a Medical Aid/Insurance the best that the US Army can give. All available Therapies will be accorded to him. Monitary values are not far, for sure.

One thing is also sure, all those material things available to him will not make his arms grow, nor his legs nor his one eye. And he knows this.

Yet, this young man, a soldier par excellence, upon entering the elevator greeted us all. ?Good morning?.

Romans 11:33 (King James Version)

33O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

Thanks be to God!

[yayas2boys]

Brendan, please accept the thanks of an Air Force family and of a grateful country. You have sacrificed so much, yet you are an inspiration to all! What courage and spirit you possess! You are teaching us all not to give up or feel overwhelmed by the troubles that befall us in life.
May God bless you and your fiance with a bright future full of love.

[slorff]

I just want to thank u brendon...you are truly a hero for us here in the USA....all that u have lost and not bitter...that is unreal....you are an awesome example...u can still have joy in lifes trials....PTL...thanks again...

[joymotte]

I would just like to thank you, Brendan, for serving our country. You are a true inspiration. I have disabilities and try to look at it as a disABILITY because while I may be disabled in this and that area, I am more able to do things in other areas. I put my thoughts down in poetry better than speaking them.
Please keep up your positive attitude. You are a hero.

[goirish1974]

Brendan, you are a true hero and an inspiration. Thank you for your service. May God Bless you and Kate with a wonderful life.

[VTHistorian]

What a true American Hero! He is following in the spirit of another hero. I had the honor to know PFC James W. Wilson (18) who lost both arms and both legs in an Army Air Force bomber crash here in Vermont during World War Two. PFC Wilson (1925 - 2000) later finished high school then college and went on to have a very successful career as an attorney until retirement. I plan to send Brendan some materials about PFC Wilson that will let him know that his positive attitude and rugged determination match and maybe exceed those of Wilson. I believe PFC Wilson would have loved to meet Brendan.

Incidentally, a soldier by the name of Fred Hensel was the only other American to lose both arms and both legs during WWII. There was also one in the Civil War but I don't have his name handy.

[SilverCity2010]

Sir,
I humbly submit to you my deepest thanks.

[mountainmark]

Brendan, you are an inspiration and we wish you best of success in life with Kate, your recovery, education, and future endeavors. Your attitude shines above the darkness of war and your injuries. Best Regards, Marathon Ski for DAV Team.

fyi - My family is performing a fundraiser for Disabled American Veterans in July of this year. We are skiing the 981 mile length of the Ohio River to raise donations and awareness for Disabled American Veterans, dubbed "Marathon Ski for DAV".

[gorgeousm]

IF YOU DON'T VOW TO HELP OUR INJURED VETS,

then you don't deserve the good way of life that they helped protect, and for YOU (meaning all of us).

By the same token, those of the privileged, upper, wealthy, elitist, etc, 'classes' whose young men and women are "too good to serve and die for" America, and who are enabled to hold clean, safe jobs in the safety and the comfort "protected and provided for" by our soldiers...

...should, in the name of fairness and justice, have levied on them a substantial tax for military 'non-service', to support our injured war veterans.

AN ACTUAL MOVEMENT FOR SPECIFIC LEGISLATION
HAVING "GREATER-THAN-CURRENT FAVOR"
OF INJURED U.S. VETERANS IS HEREBY INTENDED

Let the aforementioned and other appropriate reasons and basis kick off such fair and just legislation.

You are urged to contact your lawmakers, politicians, journalists, and others to help embark on such pro injured veterans legislation!

Thank you,
but most of all,
thank them - OUR VETERANS WHO RISKED THEIR BODIES AND LIVES FOR US.

[kimberphillips]

Thank you so much for your service to our country and for sharing your amazing spirit with us. Bless you!

For information about limb loss, prosthetics, the ACA Youth Camp and the ACA Peer Visitation Program, contact the nonprofit organization The Amputee Coalition of America, at 888/267-5669 or visit them at Amputee-Coalition.org.