Boston Marathon bombing survivor hit by car won't be running this year's marathon
Adrianne Haslet, who survived the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 and was recently hit by a car blocks from the site of the blast, said she will not be running this year's marathon. She paused with emotion as she confirmed the news to "CBS This Morning" co-host Norah O'Donnell.
"One of the first times saying it out loud – it's so hard," Haslet said. "But I'm physically and mentally – but physically unable to do that. I have such little mobility in my arm, and it's 65 days away today. And I talked with my coach and I talked with my surgeon, and I'm not running. And I'm not going to be able to train for that kind of distance. It's impossibly hard to have that taken away from me."
The accident happened last month as Haslet, who turned her tragedy into triumph after the Boston terrorist attack, was training to place in the Mobility Impaired division at the Boston Marathon.
"Out of nowhere, and I know that sounds crazy, a car came and hit me on my left prosthetic -- I still have the dent -- and sent me flying in the air. The car did not have headlights on. It did not stop at the crosswalk. I had the right of way. Threw me in the air," Haslet said. "And I remember thinking, 'I'm going to land on my head,' and I tucked my head down, and I hit the left side of my body and it shattered all of this here. And I sat up, and I felt my arm – my elbow sitting in my lap even though it should have been higher up."
The accident left her in the hospital for weeks.
This year would have been particularly special for Haslet because for the first time since the terror attack, the Boston Marathon is falling on actual the date of the 2013 race – the six-year anniversary. Haslet said she had wanted to "take back that day and to be running as a thank you to everyone who supported me in the running community and Boston and beyond."
But Haslet said she is more than her broken pieces.
"I have now no left foot, and I have this gash, scar on my arm, which I don't know what mobility I'll gain back with PT eventually. But I'm more than that. I'm so much more than that. I had to completely redefine myself after losing my leg. And I know I can do that again after being hit by a car," she said.
Haslet said a key to her recovery was "to be fiercely protective of my mental health."
"I don't think it's separate, mental or physical," she said. "You have to be fiercely protective of who you surround yourself with and who you invite into your life. And let yourself heal. Give yourself the time, and then you can do anything."