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After spending weeks in a Belgium hospital recovering from burns on a third of his body and shrapnel lodged in his lower extremities, followed by a long, arduous overseas flight and another turn in surgery, Richard Norby was ready for a good ol' American meal: peanut butter-and-jelly sandwich, banana, ice cream and chocolate milk.

"It doesn't get much better than that," his wife, Pam Norby, said Tuesday at a news conference at the University of Utah Hospital. She was joined by her son, Jason Norby, and Stephen Morris, head of the facility's burn unit.

The 66-year-old Norby, of Lehi, was injured in the March 22 terrorist attacks at the Brussels airport and returned to Utah on Saturday.

"He is optimistic and following doctors' instructions," Pam Norby said. "He will do his part in his recovery by being positive, doing physical therapy and eating and sleeping."

Morris, Norby's physician, said Norby is receiving treatment for his second- and third-degree burns that have required several surgeries and skin grafts.

Doctors worry about "contamination from the wound and infection," Morris said. "He will probably need more surgery. … Burns alone are very serious. Then there was the shock to his system, problems with his metabolism and circulation."

Norby was doing so well, the doctor said, that physicians in Belgium removed a breathing device and feeding tube before he returned to the United States on a medical plane. He is not yet able to walk.

"He's alert and has been able to talk for a while," said Jason Norby, who went to Brussels to be by his father's side after the attack. "This experience has been overwhelming, in a positive sense [for our whole family]. We feel the need to pay it forward."

After expressing gratitude for all the prayers on behalf of their family and others injured in the bombing, Pam Norby added: "God is the god of miracles. We have seen many throughout this experience."

Norby was one of four missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who were injured when explosions ripped through the Brussels airport last month. Joseph Empey, 20, of Santa Clara, and Mason Wells, 19, of Sandy, have since returned to Utah.

Fanny Rachel Clain, 20, of Montelimar, France, was en route to a mission in Ohio when she was injured in the explosions. She is expected to resume her missionary service in the United States when she is "fit enough to do so."

The Norbys were released from their missionary service Sunday, Pam Norby said. "We are looking forward to having him heal enough to leave the hospital and get on with his journey of life."