BALTIMORE -- After nearly a year of service in Iraq, a wounded soldier from Towson is back on U.S. soil.

Army Specialist Ryan Major, 22, arrived back home Friday with several critical injuries.

On Nov. 9, Major's family got the call no military family wants to get -- one saying their son had been critically injured while in Ramadi. Officials said he was standing about 2 feet away from an improvised explosive device, or IED, when it detonated.

Major lost both his legs, his arms were broken and he could barely speak. Blood donated by 30 of his fellow soldiers and his own personal strength kept him alive.

While Major was being transferred to a military hospital in Germany, his mother, Lorrie Knight-Major, and younger brother, Michael, followed, only to be greeted with more bad news.

"(They told us), 'We don't expect your son to live.' My mom said, 'Well, I'm not taking my son home in a body bag, so do something,'" Michael Major told WBAL TV 11 News Reporter Melissa Carlson.

A little more than 30 hours later, Knight-Major brought her son home, along with a Purple Heart -- his second since his tour of duty began.

He's now recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

"I'm not quite sure if he knows yet that he lost both his legs. He can only move his head from left to right," his mother said.

Major can barely speak, his mother said, and he will need a lot of help when he leaves the hospital. But family and friends will be there to help him cope and overcome the challenges that face him.

"It was hard at first, but if he can deal with it, I don't know why we can't get use to it," Michael said.

Major's friends have started a foundation in his name and will host a bull roast to raise money for the things Major will need during his recovery.

"We want to give him the life a 22-year-old deserves," said Jennifer Feeney, a friend of Major and the bull roast coordinator. "Come to the bull roast. He's a hero to all of us."

The Ryan C. Major Foundation Bull Roast will be held Jan. 13 at St. Pius X School from 6 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.

To find out more about the foundation, bull roast or how you can donate, visit the foundation's Web site, www.ryancmajor.com.