Towson Pre-School Teacher Injured At Boston Marathon Is Welcomed Home
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- The last Boston Marathon bombing victim is released from the hospital. And when Maryland teacher Erika Brannock got off the plane, she was greeted with cheers and hugs.
Mike Hellgren has more on the joyous return home.
Erika Brannock had been in the hospital for almost two months. But unlike many of those who were severely injured, she remembers every single terrifying moment of what happened to her. She's gone through 10 surgeries, and a real emotional roller coaster.
This is the moment both Erika Brannock and her loved ones have been waiting for.
Fifty days after she nearly died in the Boston Marathon bombing, the preschool teacher returned home to Maryland.
"I thought I was going to die. I had this conversation with God in my head, and I said, 'I'm not ready to go yet,'" said Brannock.
She suffered severe injuries to both legs in the terrorist attack.
"I mean, it was terrifying, being there and laying on the ground," she said.
Brannock was at the finish line to watch her mom, who was racing that day, when the chaos unfolded.
"I just saw flashes of yellow and orange and fell back slowly and blacked out f or a period of time. And then when I finally came to I could hear the sirens and people crying and screaming," said Brannock.
After all that's happened, she's not angry. She wants to get back into the classroom in Towson, and says this reunion is part of her healing process.
"It's really good to be with the people who know me the best and to finally be home with them. It's a little overwhelming too," she said.
While she was in the hospital, Brannock got calls from Ray Lewis and Cal Ripken Jr. She also made a video for her students, introducing to some of the changes to her body. One of her legs was partially amputated.
She hopes to attend their graduation later this week.
Brannock's mother never finished the marathon the day of the bombing. She later went back and crossed the finish line for closure.
