President Barack Obama awarded a Purple Heart to injured U.S. Marine Pfc. Sean Adams, a 2011 Chestatee High School graduate, on Friday, his brother, Josh Adams, said Sunday.

"He was in the room a good 10 minutes or better, talking to us and thanking Sean for his sacrifice and (saying) that the country ... could never repay him," Adams said.

Obama also signed a Marine Corps flag in Sean's room, saying he was thankful for sacrifices made by him and his family.

"You don't get that honor — and I do consider it an honor to meet the president of the United States — ever," Josh said. "That's not something that happens every day or in (a person's) lifetime."

Of course, he added, the circumstances could have been far better.

Sean is recovering from injuries suffered in February by a blast from a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. He is receiving treatment at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.

His injuries include a shrapnel injury to his left eye and bruised lungs. Doctors amputated his right leg above his knee and his left leg past his knee, as well as the pinky finger on his right hand and the thumb on his left hand.

Considering everything, Sean is doing well, Josh said.

"He got in his electric wheelchair today and we went downstairs," he said. "He got to ride around outside for about five minutes."

Otherwise, he's "sleeping a good bit," his brother said. "He's just overly tired from hurting and things like that. From what his doctors are saying, he's progressing two and three steps ahead of where he should be."

Sean has talked some about the blast. He remembers the explosion from the blast and that's about it.

"It knocked him out," Josh said. "It's blurry and fuzzy from there. There's no real remembrance of (hospitalization) in Germany ... or he hasn't mentioned that. But we haven't mentioned that to him either."

A hospital psychiatrist has advised the family not to initiate talk about the incident.

"It's one of those (situations where) if he talks about it, let him talk, but don't bring up the conversation," Josh said. "He seems to be all right in that regard. But I don't think the reality of the circumstances that are ahead of him ... has set in."

The family has learned that, at the time of the blast, Sean was sweeping an area with a metal detector.

"He had volunteered (to lead a group) because he had become an expert marksman in the time he had been in the military," Josh said. "There was a guy over next to him who had a (bomb-sniffing) dog, and the dog walked past (the mine). Then, Sean stepped on it, and it went off."

Another Marine, a sergeant who was a few feet away from Sean, lost his legs in the blast and is on the same hospital floor as Sean.

"He was retiring in about two months. He was getting out of the Marines," Josh said.

In addition, "the guys in Sean's platoon are calling (Sean) their hero," he said, choking up. "If it had not been for Sean ... (the mine) would have taken out his whole platoon."

For now, the Marine's future is uncertain.

Sean "is in recovery until they feel he is self-sufficient and can go home," Josh said. "... There's not really a timetable on anything. It's just (a case of) he's recovering and that's where we stand right now."