from fb: April 17, 2013
Some helpers’ names will never make the news in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing; I’d like to tell you about two who made a difference for our family. My husband Jack was running with Genzyme’s “Running for Rare Diseases†team on behalf of his five year old niece Brianna, who arrived on Saturday with her parents for a weekend of celebration. On Monday, our family and friends gathered with posters and cow bells near mile 19 on the 26-mile course. We cheered for each member of the team as they passed and searched the field for our marathoner. Jack beamed as he came up the steep slope just before Heartbreak Hill and was showered with high fives and hugs. I ran with him for a few blocks then watched as he disappeared over the hill’s crest. Our friends Beth and Jeff were waiting to cheer Jack at the finish line in Boston. After the race, they were going to bring him home. I had returned to our house and was setting up a late lunch for our crowd when Beth called just before 3pm from a downtown garage. She told me they could not find Jack, but she thought he was ok. At first, I couldn’t understand. I had not heard the news. Beth spelled it out: “There has been an explosion.†She and Jeff were in the stands directly across from the fireball, but they had not been hurt. We had no way of finding Jack. Like many runners, he had left his cell phone behind. The minutes crawled. When our phone rang again, the caller’s id was from a California area code; the voice on the other end belonged to Jack. He had reached mile 25.6 when the first bomb exploded and had been diverted with the other runners to Mass Ave, where he borrowed the phone. With Jack at one ear and Beth at the other I relayed his message. Jack told them to leave; he would find his way home. Jeff and Beth refused to leave Boston without him. The perpetrator of this crime targeted the charity runners, people who came from all over the world, people who raised funds to cure disease as they raised awareness of suffering. They logged millions of training miles for themselves, but also for others. In the wake of the bomb, helpers emerged: Marathoners who ran extra miles to donate blood to local hospitals; spectators and race officials who used their own clothing as tourniquets; strangers who rushed in to help. Beth and Jeff returned my husband safely to our door. Like countless other helpers, they will never have their names in the news. I like to believe that even though thousands of runners did not get their chance to cross the finish line on Monday, their actions, compassion and kindness carried the day and won over this horrible act in the end.
Lisa