STILL BOSTON ‘STRONGER AT 5’
Donohue family behind event honoring Hub heroes
Finn Donohue entered our world the other day. After a slightly-longer-thanexpected stay at the hospital, he is thriv- ing at home with his sleep-deprived parents and two older brothers.
The youngest of the Donohue boys is undeniably a born fighter.
After all, his DNA is 100 percent Boston Strong.
Finn’s dad is Dic Donohue. He was last seen being clipped near the end of Mark Wahlberg’s “Avengers” spinoff “Patriots Day.” Dic Donohue was shot for real during the Battle of Watertown in 2013 — shot so badly he needed 46 units of blood in order to survive. Mom is pretty tough, too. More on her in a bit.
Sunday marks the fifth anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing and the hell that followed.
Greater Boston stopped for four days, until the killers were run down and/or run over. And while Father Time continues to have issues with Tom Brady, the calendar flips daily on the rest of us.
Krystle Campbell, Martin Richard and Lingzi Lu perished on Boylston Street. Three days later, the bombers murdered MIT police officer Sean Collier in his cruiser. Boston police officer Dennis Simmonds was wounded by a blast in Watertown. He died in 2014 due to a brain aneurysm resulting from his injuries.
Among the survivors, there have been marriages, births, divorces, make-ups, break-ups, countless medical procedures, scars, healing, amputations, prosthetics, books, TV shows, documentaries, movies and nearly everything in between.
There’s also been Finn Donohue and his 2-year-old brother, Connor.
Those boys would not be here had their dad expired on Dexter Street in Watertown or at Mount Auburn Hospital. Big brother Richie was a few months old at the time.
Donohue’s gratitude for it all cannot be quantified in this space. Nor does he have any inclination to think about those terrifying “what ifs.” He is simply too damn busy.
Dic and Kim Donohue will do their best to express their ceaseless appreciation with a “recognition” gala tonight. “Stronger at 5” will be held at Ned Devine’s at Faneuil Hall Marketplace to benefit the Sean Collier Foundation.
Donohue met Collier when the two were training together at the police academy.
They became pals as each worked toward a planned career in law enforcement.
“We need to focus on making a difference. And continue to do good in Sean’s name,” Donohue said while heading to class at UMass Lowell. He is a Ph.D. candidate in the school’s Criminology and Criminal Justice program.
Collier loved auto racing, sailing on the Charles and was set to go in on Patriots season tickets with his stepdad in 2013.
“He was a dedicated law enforcement professional, a personal friend, a member of the community and well-respected and loved at MIT,” said Donohue, who retired from the MBTA Transit Police in 2016 due to his leg injury.
“Sean funded his own way into the police academy. He took a big risk in doing that so that he could get out and serve.”
A single call from mom-of-three-boys-under-6 Kim Donohue set the plans for “Stronger at 5” into uninterrupted motion. Given the multiple connections formed by the family since 2013 and the willingness of dozens to help, the rest was simply physics. A matter of time, energy and space.
“Celebrate is a tough word to use. We’re not going out to party. It’s about recognition. It’s about how thanking those who helped me. It’s about showing how this tragic event touched so many people in my profession — at the finish line, and in Cambridge and Watertown. It affected a lot of people,” Dic Donohue said.
“For me and my family, it’s time to recognize those people — to say ‘thank you’ to so many people in the community.”
Donohue firmly believes “Boston Strong” is a commodity that pre-dated Patriots Day 2013.
“It’s been there beforehand — that’s a fact,” he said. “It was under the surface the whole time. It makes me proud that I came from a place like this.”
Not nearly as proud as the rest of us.