Boston bombings hero gave birthday present to teen
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Heartwarming moment bomb hero who lost both his legs gave an 18th birthday gift to teen who was wounded alongside him
Boston bombings victim Jeff Bauman, who famously helped authorities identify suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev and lost both his legs in the blasts, delivered a birthday present to another victim of the attacks on Tuesday.
The heartwarming moment was captured in a photograph that went viral on social media sites Wednesday. Bauman, 27, is pictured handing Sydney Corcoran a Macy's bag in a hospital room. It was Corcoran's 18th birthday on Tuesday.
Corcoran was cheering on her aunt at the marathon with other family members when the bombs went off last
Monday. She suffered shrapnel wounds, including a torn femoral artery. Sydney's mother, Celeste, lost both her legs below the knee
Bauman had both his legs blown off in the first explosion near the marathon finish line and he was bleeding out when Carlos Arredondo swooped in to save his life by tying fabric around one of his legs and pinching an artery in the other.
Exactly one week after the bombings, Arrendondo visited Bauman in the hospital where he is still recovering.
'I was so happy to see him with his big open-wide eyes and very grateful to be able to hug him and let him know how proud I am of him,' Arredondo told the Concord Monitor of his visit.
A photograph of the two of them - Bauman sitting white-faced in the wheelchair and grasping his left leg while
Arredondo, donning a cowboy hat, runs beside him with his artery in hand - became one of the most widely
seen images from the day of the bombings.
'The picture that you see, that’s what it is and that how it happened, you know,' Bauman told the Monitor. 'I was just trying to help him in every way I could, and thank God he gave me the opportunity to help this beautiful young man.'
Arredondo said he spent an hour with Bauman at the hospital, 'trying to talk with him and laugh with him and let him know how great he was doing while all this was happening.'
He also brought Bauman gifts, including a hat and a card signed by military families who have lost someone in war. One of Arredondo's sons died in Iraq in 2004 and his other son took his own life just before Christmas in 2011.
Bauman has received more than $600,000 in donations for his medical bills over the last week.
His stepmother, Csilla Bauman, of Concord, told the newspaper that the 27-year-old has been feeling positive about his recovery.
'His mind is just very focused on just going every day and getting stronger and just adjusting to this new way of life that he’s going to live, but in a positive way,' she said.
On Wednesday, Bauman was photographed delivering a birthday present to 18-year-old bombing victim Sydney Corcoran. The photograph went viral online.
On the day of the marathon, Bauman was standing near the finish line and waiting for his girlfriend to cross.
When he woke in the hospital several days later, he blurted out that he had seen a man drop a bag near his feet. His description of the man led authorities to identify the suspects in the bombing.