After Home Is Damaged, Quadruple Amputee Shows Concern for Others The custom-built house had every imaginable bell and whistle aimed at giving a young Staten Island native who had lost his limbs in the Iraq war a measure of independence - wheelchair ramps and an elevator to the second story, plus electronic controls to adjust cabinets and work faucets at the touch of an iPad. Equally thoughtful was a nearly finished three-car garage for the future occupant, a Nascar enthusiast, to putter in. But the high-tech marvel, built by donors in all 50 states at a cost of $850,000, had no ability to keep out the sea last week once Hurricane Sandy began pounding homes on Staten Island's South Shore. Water seeped into the house, dragging sand and debris along the ground floor. Though the structure withstood the lashing better than some of its neighbors on Holten Avenue, it will need repairs and cleaning before Brendan Marrocco, a quadruple amputee whose injuries stem from a roadside bombing in 2009, and his brother Michael can move back into the place they have called home for just over a year. Contacted at the hotel where they are temporarily staying, Specialist Marrocco was not eager to discuss his plight, citing what he saw as the greater suffering of his neighbors and other victims of the storm. His father, Alex Marrocco, was equally reluctant to complain or ask for help from the community when reached Friday night at a Home Depot, where he was buying cleaning supplies for the work ahead. "We're motoring ahead," he said. Water did get inside the house on the first floor, unfortunately. But it's one of those things. Realistically, we're a lot better off than other people. So we're thankful. Mr. Marrocco said he had filled two 30-cubic-yard containers with debris and was confident he and his friends could handle the rest. "We're dealing with this at that point," he said, when pressed. I've vacated the entire first floor and moved as much material as I could up to the second floor, and we're working to repair what we have. He estimated that it might be a month or two before his sons could move back in, but he was busy counting his family's blessings. For starters, he said, his sons were not on Staten Island when the storm hit. They were on a hunting trip. Checking on their house in their absence on Monday night, the diligent father was turning off the circuit breakers when the water rushed in. Nearly trapped, Mr. Marrocco was forced to ditch his truck and set out on foot to his own house some miles away. "I got wet and soaked and lost my truck," he said. That's about it. Asked about his son's Nascar hobby, the father said that his son did lose the contents of his garage, including an all-terrain vehicle that he had been working on. But once again, Mr. Marrocco was quick to see a silver lining in the all the mud and muck. "The good thing about the garage was it wasn't finished yet," he said.