A young woman who lost her leg in the Boston Marathon bombing faces another long recovery after being struck by a car Saturday night in Boston in an accident that has left her “in disbelief” and asking, “how does this even happen?”
Adrianne Haslet was in a Commonwealth Avenue crosswalk a few blocks from the site of the 2013 bombing at around 7 p.m. when she was struck. The driver, who stayed at the scene, was cited for failure to stop for a pedestrian in a marked crosswalk and the police report notes darkness and rain may have been contributing factors. “Thrown into the air and landed, crushing the left side of my body. Yesterday,” she wrote on Instagram, sharing a photo from her Boston Medical Center bed. “I’m completely broken. More surgery to come.”
Haslet, who had been training for the marathon in April, posted Monday as she was heading in for more surgery.
“I’m really scared and heading into my next surgery. I don’t know how many more there will be. Ow,” she said in an Instagram story. “I can feel your love and support, but I just want to say thank you. I’m really scared, but I think I’m in good hands.”
Haslet, 38, indicated Tuesday morning that the surgery had taken eight hours and that she was “in a ton of pain” as she waited to find out the nature of her injuries and “what my path is to mobility.”
“Your messages of love and support bring me to tears, thank you, I’d list them all, but it’s tough to type. I had a second surgery yesterday, over 8 hours long. It went well, though I’m in a ton of pain, I’m being well taken care of,” she wrote. “My friends are surrounding me with love, food, hugs, kisses and brushing my hair.
“I read your messages again and again when things get tough. I’m still in disbelief. How does this even happen? Haven’t I been through enough? Today I find out my exact injuries and what my path is to mobility. Send me all the goodness you got!”
Haslet, whose Instagram bio lists her as a “global advocate for amputee rights, a keynote speaker, a ballroom dancer, a blade runner, adventurer, a BostonStrong survivor and founder of AdrianneStrongMile,” was a spectator at the marathon when two pressure cooker bombs exploded near the finish line in 2013, killing three people. She entered the marathon in 2016 and has said she refuses to be called a victim, preferring the hashtag #AdrianneStrong. She still dances and appeared on “Dancing with the Stars.” She entered the Marathon last spring, but could not finish in the rain and cold.
“I am a survivor defined by how I live my life,” her Twitter feed says, “not a victim defined by what happened in my life.”
