Brendan Marrocco Only Soldier to Lose All Four Limbs and Survive;
Heat of Bomb Instantly Cauterized His Wounds By David Martin
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.
Brendan Marrocco, 23, works with a trainer at Walter Reed Army Medical
Center in Washington, DC. Marrocco, the first quadruple amputee of the
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to survive, lost both arms and legs to a
roadside bomb in Iraq on Easter Sunday, 2009. (CBS)
"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."
Advanced Arm Dynamics (AAD), an upper
extremity prosthetics provider, recently played a role in the 30th
Annual Texas History Day Contest; albeit, one behind the scenes.
When the business was approached by a group
of 8th graders from a Texas middle
school who were creating a play on the history of innovation in
prosthetics to perform as their submission for the contest, the AAD team
was more than happy to help. They worked
with the students over a period of months, which included showing them
various prosthesis and how they work, introducing them to patients,
providing a tour of the facilities and lab, and even lending them four
prosthetic arms to use when performing their play.
After first winning their school and the Dallas
Fort-Worth regional competitions, the students were among the 1,000
students out of 45,000 who were allowed to compete at the state-level
this past weekend at the 30th Annual Texas
History Day Contest, the official affiliate of the National History
Program, which was held at the Texas State History Museum in Austin. The students
received 4th place out of the 45,000 state competitors.
The theme of this year’s Texas History Day was
“Innovation in History.” For their submissions, students in 6th
through 12th grade had a choice of submitting performances,
Web sites, historical papers, documentaries
or exhibits in accordance with the theme.
Texas History Day, the official Texas affiliate of
the National History Day program, is a
yearlong education program that culminates in an annual state-level
history fair for students in grades six through twelve. It provides an
opportunity for
students to develop their knowledge of history and their critical thinking,
analytical reading and writing, presentation, media design, and public
performance skills through creative and original papers, performances,
documentaries, web sites or exhibits.
The Texas State Historical
Association coordinates the Texas competition, which involves over
45,000 young Texans statewide. The 2010 event was co-hosted by the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum and The University of Texas at
Austin College of Education.
Over 1,000 students participate in the state level History Day contest
with approximately 60 students representing Texas at National History
Day each year in Washington, D.C.
I recently had the unique opportunity to travel
down to Guadalajara to participate in the first annual International
Forum on Biomedical Engineering
at the Tecnológico de Monterrey campus Guadalajara. I have known the
Director of the Biomedical
Engineering department, Dr. Misael Caballero, for the past four
years. In 2006, we had the opportunity to collaborate together on a
prosthetic case involving a patient who sustained wrist disarticulation
amputations on both her right and left arm. Earlier
this year Dr. Caballero invited me to speak at this conference on the
topic of Advancements in Upper Limb Prosthetic Technology. And although
my Spanish is pretty non-existent, I decided this would be an excellent
opportunity to teach about our field and
provide exposure to not only the advancements in technologies but also
the advancements that have been made in therapy and psychosocial
considerations for those patients dealing with an upper limb amputation.
So, my tickets were purchased and I was on my way
for this adventure. My past experience with Mexico involved beaches and
margaritas so I was unsure of what to expect going to Guadalajara.
Upon my arrival, I met with Dr. Caballero and
one of his students, Ana HeRay and was taken to my hotel. On the ride
to the hotel, I was informed that I would be the first speaker and that I
should be prepared for around 100 participants. Once at the hotel I
was able to put my finishing touches on the
presentation for the next morning.
The next day, Ana picked me up to take me to the
University. Once there, I was given a tour of the exhibit hall which
included approximately 15 vendors from various aspects of the health field including
such companies as Arthrex and Stryker.
Dr. Caballero personally introduced me to the representatives from each
of these companies. I quickly realized that the entire conference was
student driven and on a very high level! I was incredibly impressed by
the professionalism of the student workers
and by the overall feel of the conference.
It was then off to get prepared for the opening
ceremonies and the presentation at 10:00 sharp. Some very influential
people were in attendance including the president of the university and
the Minster of Health for the county of Jalisco.
The venue for the meeting was an outdoor gymnasium that held
approximately 1,000 chairs. Five 40” LCD screens were positioned around
the audience as the main projector was unfortunately not bright enough
to show on the main screen. The presentation went
very well and we had approximately 900 + attendees during the lecture
which was amazing!
After lunch, Ana and another student by the name of
Eduardo gave me a tour around the campus. I have a new appreciation
for what the field of biomedical engineering means in Mexico and I am hopeful
that a few of the students will be interested
enough to consider the field of upper limb prosthetics as a career that they
can bring to Mexico. We had a Gala dinner that evening which included
lectures by Intel on their venture into Guadalajara.
The next day was full of more lectures
(unfortunately in Spanish which did not bode well for this Texan!) as
well as a repeat lecture from me to those students that were not able to
attend the original lecture. It was then off to the airport
for a quick flight back to Dallas.
I truly enjoyed my time in Guadalajara and was very
impressed by the hospitality of the students and Dr. Caballero. I am
looking forward to this becoming a common conference that we can be a
part of in the future and hope that we can help
influence the career choices of some of these students as they begin to
understand the nature of prosthetics and how it relates to their
degree. This was an excellent opportunity to showcase the philosophy of
Advanced Arm Dynamics and I am grateful to Dr.
Caballero for his invitation to participate in this event.
Rob Dodson, C.P.O., L.P.O. Upper Extremity Specialist Advanced Arm Dynamics
- "The military's Purple Heart award is hard-earned.
Service members must be wounded or killed in battle to receive the honor.But when a Springfield soldier received his Purple Heart six
months ago, he didn't even know it. He was in a medically-induced coma when the
award was pinned to his pillow.First Lieutenant Mark Wise never dreamed of receiving a
Purple Heart. He hoped he would come out of battle in Afghanistan without one
but now that he has he says he's grateful to wear this badge of honor...."
WATCH THE VIDEO of Advanced Arm Dynamics patient Lt. Mark
Wise featured on ABC 7 News in Washington, DC.
NEW ORLEANS — Doctors were unable to reattach a Louisiana boy's arm
that was retrieved from the belly of an alligator, a family friend said
Thursday.
Doctors at Ochsner Hospital worked Wednesday night to reattach Devin
Funck's left arm, which had been rushed to a hospital after its
recovery about 3 1/2 hours after the attack. But family friend Cory
Dunn said the effort was unsuccessful.
"They could not save the arm," Dunn said. "He's got a long way to go. ... He'll need a prosthesis."
Devin, 11, was in stable condition Thursday, Dunn said. An enormous
alligator, dubbed "Big Joe" by residents, attacked Devin, biting off
his arm at the shoulder and sparking a scramble to save the boy's life.
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