Highland, Ind. Woman Recovering After Boston Marathon: 'You Have To Go Forward'
(CBS) – A northwest Indiana woman seriously injured in the Boston Marathon bombings is recovering at a hospital and vows to complete another Chicago Marathon within five years.
Highland resident Beth Roche had just cheered from the sidelines April 15 as her daughter, Rebecca, crossed the finish line when the first of the two bombs went off.
Beth Roche's left leg suffered extensive damage.
Two weeks later, she is preparing for more surgery and treatment at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston and isn't sure when she's coming back to the Chicago area.
"I'm positive," she told CBS 2's Rob Johnson in a telephone interview Monday. "I look forward to bending my knee and walking again in a short time."
Boston Boming Survivor
In fact, she intends to complete another Chicago Marathon before she's 65. She ran and walked the course last year.
"I have moments that I'm sad, and I have moments especially when I hurt. But not moments that I give up," Roche says.
Helping her keep things in perspective is that other patients have experienced even worse injuries than hers. Roche says she has become friends with some of them.
"I'm sad that we all had to go through this. It just doesn't seem fair, but at the same time, what can you say? You just have to go forward," she says.
Roche says she has been able to recognize at least a couple of silver linings after all she's been through. For one, she commends the neighbors, friends and family who are taking care of her home and animals while she's away.
"I always knew that I had people that I loved and loved me, but there's a bond now. This is more precious," she says.
She also praises the humanity she witnessed immediately after the blasts, including the comfort and assurances a Boston first-responder offered her. And she marvels at the efficiency of medical personnel who treated her and other victims on the spot.
"They were wonderful, absolutely wonderful," Roche says.
Three people died and 260 people were injured in the two bomb blasts.
