Will Lautzenheizer is on the road to recovery.

After losing his arms and legs to a streptococcal infection in 2011, the 40-year-old received a rare double-arm transplant last month with the help of an anonymous donor.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) WILL LAUTZENHEIZER, BILATERAL ARM TRANSPLANTEE, SAYING:

"This person who is anonymous to me will always be as close to me as my own skin now and it's really an incredible gift."

The nine-hour operation required 35 medical staff, including 13 surgeons, at Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) WILL LAUTZENHEIZER, BILATERAL ARM TRANSPLANTEE, SAYING:

"Brigham is an incredible institution and to have come here and received this gift. Obviously, it's life-changing."

Lautzenheizer has a long stretch of therapy ahead.

Doctors say his nerves must literally grow into the nerves of his new limbs, which they say usually takes a year-and-a-half.

And as his arms rehabilitate, he says he is