Year later, survivor is a portrait of resilience
carlisle, mass. » The year since Jeff Bauman was pushed in a wheelchair from the Boston Marathon, his legs ravaged and his face ashen, has been marked by pain and difficulty but also by triumphs: He has learned to walk on prosthetic legs, he is engaged, and he’s an expectant father.
Bauman became one of the most recognizable and powerful symbols of Boston’s resilience after the April 15 attacks — immortalized in an Associated Press photo that shows three rescuers rushing him from the scene.
He became a hero days later when he was able to help authorities identify one of two brothers accused of setting off pressure-cooker bombs, killing two women and an 8-year-old boy and injuring more than 260 others. His memoir, “Stronger,” comes out Tuesday.
The past year has been a blur for Bauman, and he can’t get used to the idea that this is his new life.
“Right now, you know, it’s kind of a challenge to put my legs on every day. I’m not used to it. But I think over time it will become more of a natural thing,” Bauman, 28, told the AP in an interviewat the home he shares with his fiancée, Erin Hurley. “At first I couldn’t even wear them for 20minutes. … Now, I can wear them all day.”
Bauman was standing near the finish line with two friends, waiting to cheer on Hurley as she completed the marathon. He noticed a man who looked out of place in a crowd of revelers, and they exchanged a long stare. As Bauman describes him, he was “all business.”
Moments later, the two bombs exploded. Bauman found himself on the ground, his legs gone.
Thanks to his rescuers, he lived. He was in surgery within 20 minutes.
Soon after Baumanwoke, hewas able to provide a description of the man who was “all business.” Authorities say it was Tamerlan Tsarnaev, whowas killed in a shootout with police in Watertowndays later. Tsarnaev’s brother, Dzhokhar, has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.
Bauman has focused on healing and learning to manage his new legs. He lost his legs above the knee, making it harder to adjust to his prosthetics.
Bauman and Hurley are preparing for the baby, due July 14. They got engaged in February and tentatively plan to get married next year, Hurley said.