Suzanne Kreiter/Globe staff

Richard Mangino of Revere has been able to play the guitar since he received two new hands and forearms a year ago.

Suzanne Kreiter/Globe staff

Mangino is now able to do chores around his home.

Suzanne Kreiter/Globe staff

Richard Mangino was the patient in a historic hand transplant operation at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He lost his arms and legs 10 years ago to a bloodstream infection.

Suzanne Kreiter/Globe staff

Now, four months since the transplant, he says he still has pain in his arms at times.

Suzanne Kreiter/Globe staff

However, Mangino has started to play the piano again.

Suzanne Kreiter/Globe staff

Mangino takes a look at a calender that includes some of his old artwork, which he hasn't started to do again.

Suzanne Kreiter/Globe staff

Mangino often spends two hours a day working with his hands on fine motor skills.

Suzanne Kreiter/Globe staff

Mangino works with weights at home for hours at a time.

Richard Mangino's new hands belonged to Steven Lloyd (above with his wife, Jodi), who died of a brain hemorrhage.

Bill Greene/Globe Staff

Jodi Lloyd at her home with her sons Cullen, 11, and Carson, 5. She said she wanted to make the decision about her husband's hands on her own, without seeking the opinions of family and friends.

Bill Greene/Globe Staff

“Why let these hands go to waste?" thought Jodi Lloyd, recalling her decision to donate her husband's hands. “Steven’s talents were in his hands. It just made sense to me."

Courtesy of the Mangino family

Prior to his amputations, Richard Mangino was an avid guitar player.

Kay Lazar

After the amputations, Richard Mangino lived for years with a prosthetic arm.

LIGHTCHASER PHOTOGRAPHY

In October, a team of more than 40 surgeons, nurses and support staff at Brigham and Women's Hospital worked for more than 12 hours performing a bilateral hand transplant on Mangino.

Courtesy of Brigham and Women's

Mangino smiled with his wife, Carole, following the bilateral hand transplant.

Steven Senne/AP

Dr. Bohdan Pomahac, director of plastic surgery transplantation at Brigham and Women's Hospital, patted Mangino on the shoulder following a news conference at the hospital after the double hand transplant.

Wendy Maeda/Globe Staff

Mangino posed after the surgery with his wife, Carole, son, Richard, and grandson, Trevor, 5.