WEEKI WACHEE, Fla. — A Weeki Wachee Army veteran who lost his right arm and leg in Afghanistan in 2010 is now helping to lead a new charge -- a major push forward in the study and engineering of prosthetic limbs.

Sergeant Rick Cicero’s medical journey brought us to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. It’s a hospital the 48-year-old is intimately familiar with.

“Since October of 2015, I’ve been here just about 1 week every month since then,” said Cicero.

The Army veteran is a double amputee, and he’s making history at Walter Reed Bethesda as a medical study test subject.

“I’m lucky because I know how blessed I am, and I can count my blessings,” he said.

In 2010, Cicero was a working as a military contractor in Afghanistan when an improvised explosive device took out his right arm and right leg. But it isn’t what he lost; instead, it’s what he gained years after that near death experience that makes him unique.

“This is true "Bionic Man" stuff coming to light,” he said.

Cicero has a battery-powered arm that moves when he thinks it, just like his natural one. Even more amazing, his robotic arm is attached to bone, the result of an experimental procedure that is relatively new to the U.S.

“This is life changing," Cicero said. "I could only imagine where I would be if I had this seven years ago and what I could’ve done."

Osseointegration of prosthetic limbs is being studied by the Department of Defense at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. In March, Cicero had the surgery again, so that he could attach a prosthetic leg straight to his thigh bone.

“It’s just gonna click on -- what takes me now about 3 minutes on a good day and 5 minutes on a rough day to put on will take me a whopping 10 seconds.” Cicero adds, “I won’t have to live with the extra weight, won’t have to live with the plastic. I won’t have to live with the additional sweating.”

It’s a massive upgrade from traditional socket-based prosthetic limbs, and comes with a big distinction. Cicero is the first person in the U.S. to have osseointegration in both an upper and lower limb.

“I want to push this technology and devices as far as they can possibly go," Cicero said. "I want to challenge the young prosthetists and engineers to create the most functional devices.

"I can care less what they look like," Cicero continued. "I want to give everybody that ever walks in my boots the opportunity to live life, enjoy it and not question that these things are available to them and use these tools and make them run."

Make them run he does. Despite his devastating injuries, Cicero has trained K9s, shoots, and teaches martial arts.

Clearly, limb loss hasn’t stopped the Army veteran. Instead, it has thrust him into a life-changing journey to advance the study of osseointegration and ultimately help improve the lives of countless other amputees.

“If I can be the face that does that, and I can continue to support our team that’s doing this for our country every day, then by God that’s what I want to do,” he said.  

HOW OSSEOINTEGRATION WORKS

Cicero is part of a clinical trial that aims to explore the benefits and drawbacks of attaching a prosthetic device straight to bone.

“Inside my arm and my leg as well, the bone was hollowed out and tapped, just like you would tap a nut to screw a bolt into, and the base piece screws directly into that,” he said.

The technology was pioneered in Europe. Clinical trials began at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center just a few years ago.

Drs. Jonathan Forsberg and Benjamin Potter head the hospital’s osseointegration program.

“It’s so new that we have to characterize the complication rate,” said Forsberg

The experimental procedure offers an alternative to socket-based prosthetic devices and the challenges associated with them.

“Skin irritation, rashes, ulcerations in the residual limb that could take time to heal, can require you to discontinue use of the prosthesis for some time, and not to mention pain, pinching both on your residual limb and other parts,” Potter said.

Osseointegration is done in two stages several months apart to allow the bone to heal. Only about 14 patients have had OI at Walter Reed Bethesda to date.

“Eventually in the future, this will be available to a much broader population of amputees, both within the DoD and the V.A. and outside of it. We’d like to establish the safety and effectiveness profiles of these devices to make it available to that broader population,” Potter said.

Integrum, the Swedish company that developed the technology, produced an animation that shows how the surgery is done. To watch the animation, click HERE.

GIVING BACK TO THE VETERAN COMMUNITY

Two years ago, Cicero started a national program to teach veterans with disabilities how to shoot again, in partnership with the organization Honored American Veterans Afield.

“They see what they have to offer and, instead of questioning, they know," said Cicero. "Instead of thinking they're made of plastic and cardboard, they realize they're made of steel and concrete.”

While the Army veteran has gained so much during his remarkable medical journey, he says what really drives him is helping other disabled veterans get ahead and find purpose again.

“If I can use my little segment of what I've learned to help spread that and build that, I'm making my own life worth living and that's what it's all about,” he said.

“He is determined, he's strong," said Cicero's wife, Lynn. "He truly is an inspiration to everyone. I have really never met anybody like him in my life."

In addition to shooting lessons, Sgt. Cicero teaches Brazilian jiu jitsu classes at Walter Reed Bethesda, and speaks to industry and veterans groups about his experience with osseointegration and the technology he’s testing as part of the clinical trial.