Moving forward: Marathon victim J.P. Norden receives prosthetic leg

BOSTON (MyFoxBoston.com) -- Almost 100 days since he lost his leg in the Boston Marathon bombings, J.P. Norden is moving forward with an iron will.

The Norden brothers from Wakefield were among the more than 260 people injured in the attack. Paul Norden, the younger of the two, received a prosthetic leg that goes all the way up to his hips back in June. Doctors were able to save older brother J.P.'s leg above the knee and on Monday he finally got his turn to walk with a prosthetic.

"I've been waiting to do this for a while," said J.P. of being able to walk.

J.P. took some of his first steps since going home with his new carbon fiber prosthetic Monday, designed especially for him by a Newton company.

"What was it like when you stood on your own two feet for the first time?" asked FOX 25's Heather Hegedus.

"It felt like it was me again, you know," J.P. replied. "I don't know, I felt a little more like myself."

Since April, J.P. has had to rely on others for help, something he wasn't used to doing. He he had to learn how to balance on one leg. Up until Monday, J.P. used crutches or a wheel chair to get around. Both brothers moved back in with their mother, because they were no longer self-sufficient.

J.P.'s prosthetic fits right under his knee, something his doctors fought to save, knowing it would make his life a lot easier.

Paul and J.P. have been a source of comfort for one another as they recover from the bombings.

"If one of us aren't feeling good, he'll call me and say, 'Listen I'm having a bad or vice versa,' - and it's nice cause we know what each others are going through," J.P. told FOX 25.

J.P. also needs to get used to driving again for work. Prior to the bombings, he was a deliveryman. A driving instructor is teaching him how to drive all over again with his left foot.

The Wakefield native has a long road ahead of him with skin grafts for his knee and more surgeries on his other leg. J.P. says in time, he'll be fitted for a variety of legs to help him do a variety of activities. He says he recently had an opportunity to go to Walter Reed Medical Center and meet soldiers with prosthetic legs just like him and he says those soldiers really motivated him not to give up.

Cox Media Group