Josh Maloney's mother Patti knew her oldest child was going to recover just fine soon after his right hand -- his dominant one -- was blown off in a training accident at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., on Jan. 31, 2007.

The moment came while he was being treated for burns at Washington Center Hospital, the first of four health facilities he has spent time in.

Mr. Maloney was in pain, hooked up to tubes and enduring all the other conventional hospital indignities. But he got some daytime distraction from his discomfort from family, his girlfriend, Erin Maxa of Dormont, and a steady stream of fellow Marines, including one who brought a crossword puzzle book as a gift.

But one night Mr. Maloney, then 22 and a veteran of two tours in war-torn Iraq, couldn't sleep.

"I came in the next morning and he showed me what he had done," said Mrs. Maloney, who with husband Mark has raised four children in Bethel Park. "He had completed the puzzle with his left hand.

"I knew then he was going to be OK ... he's hard-headed," she said.

"He's very much a Marine."

And, he said yesterday, "A Marine is dedicated."

Those traits are coming in quite handy these days as he recovers from what was the nation's sixth hand transplant and the first by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center on March 14.

What distinguishes the UPMC transplant from the previous five, all done in Louisville, Ky., is a new protocol designed to reduce the amount of antirejection drugs typically required after any kind of transplant. It comprises initial antibody treatment, injection of bone marrow from the hand donor and then treatment with tacrolimus, a low-grade immunosuppressant first used in liver transplants by Dr. Thomas Starzl at UPMC more than two decades ago.

Cheery-looking in a purple T-shirt bearing the slogan of American Eagle and with a bright blue sling supporting his newly whole right arm, Mr. Maloney and several members of the two teams of surgeons who did the transplant met the Pittsburgh media yesterday to talk about his experiences to date and what he expects of himself in the future

"I feel great," said Mr. Maloney, whose new hand came from an 18-year-old West Virginia man who suffered fatal head trauma. "It's the opportunity of a lifetime to get my life back. It's going to take some work ... [but] what I thought I'd be after I was hurt, I am no longer. ...

"I'm moving my right hand some, but I can't physically feel anything in it at the moment," he added. "How do I feel emotionally? It's very cool."

Chief surgeon W.P. Andrew Lee said he plans to release his star patient from the hospital next week, but Mr. Maloney has a long way to go in terms of healing and of rehabilitation.

But with persistence and Marine Corps dedication, he feels more than up to the task.

He noted that in the Marines, from which he retired as a corporal, he learned many useful life skills besides "how to blow things up," including carpentry and masonry. He said he hopes to become an electrician.

"I want to get a job, work with my hands, support a family and do what everyone else does."

He did a pretty good job of that before the hand transplant, too, even though he said he stopped using his two prosthetics a year ago because they were more bother than they were worth. He attended classes at the Community College of Allegheny County, younger sisters Hanna and Jillian said, and worked at the American Eagle store in South Hills Village. His interests include country music, which he always has "blasting in his car," Hanna, 14, said.

Though the sisters said he missed being able to drive his former truck because it was a stick-shift, he adapted to life as an amputee.

"He's very high-spirited, always cracking jokes," Hanna said.

"He didn't mind asking, 'Help me cut my meat,'" his father said.

Still, when Josh Maloney heard that UPMC was looking for volunteers for potential hand transplants, he didn't hesitate to call. Dr. Lee said he was put on the active waiting list in mid-December.

"I had to write about the most influential person in my life for school," said Jillian, 15. "I wrote about my brother."