Taking just one small step had changed John Peck’s life forever. According to CNN.com, the 31-year old Marine had recently been serving in Afghanistan for his second tour of duty when he suddenly stepped on a bomb. Luckily John had survived this terrifying experience, but the road to recovery would be long and grueling. During the explosive that occurred in 2010, John Peck had lost both his arms and legs, in which he was considered a quadruple amputee. Although a devastating incident, he had been grateful to be alive.

After the loss of his limbs, he had soon been measured for prosthetic arms and a wheelchair. It was difficult from once being a strong and independent young man to now having to rely on others to help him in almost everything he did. Then in 2014,  he had been qualified for a bilateral arm transplant, where he would be receiving two arms from a deceased man. He was overwhelmed with joy and happiness to have this once in a lifetime opportunity, but was even more thankful to the young man who died and donated his arms.

Before going into surgery, doctors had planned for months at a time of how how they would first approach this difficult operation. Their main focus was to attach the donor’s arms to John’s elbows. Then over time, John would eventually gain feeling in both arms and would slowly become adapted to these physical changes. Just a couple months ago, John had finally underwent life-changing surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. In total, it took 12 surgeons and a long 14 hours to complete the operation. It was all worth it in the end because the operation was a success. After the surgery, John had gone into recovery and has been recuperating ever since.

On the road to healing, he has been regaining strength each and everyday through physical therapy. For now, he is taking small but essential steps to continue to grow stronger. Some of these exercises are simply getting dressed, self grooming, and brushing his teeth. Doctors have estimated that it will take 9 to 12 months to even begin to feel sensation in his arms or hands, but with John’s hard work, they say he should begin to see some great progress in the months to come. It is definitely a difficult transition for John, especially after everything he has been through, but he wakes up everyday so thankful for the gift that he has been provided.

In the future, John Peck is hoping to pursue a culinary career and even be on the TV show “Food Network Star”. Ever since he was a little boy, he had always wanted to become a professional chef. Grateful for his donor allowing him to have this opportunity, John plans to strive for his dreams in the near future. For now, John Peck’s main focus is to recover from his surgery and then chase after his dream job.

In a CNN interview, he stated, “This gift, it’s not going to go to waste at all.”