Newport Bombing Victim 'Didn’t Want to Let My Hand Go'

NEWPORT, RI -- 

“You just don’t want to be a victim.  You will be damned if they make you a victim.”  - Newport resident Jessica Guerin

Last Monday, Newport resident Heather Abbott was injured in the Boston Marathon bombings and like so many involved, her life was changed forever. Exactly one week later, doctors were forced to remove her left leg from the knee down, and finish the brutish job the bomb started.

“The bones were shattered,” explained Newport resident Jessica Guerin, who was standing next to Abbott when the bomb exploded.  After several surgeries directed by a team of 14 specialists, doctors said she would be left with almost no functionality if they didn’t remove a portion of her leg.

Just as they have done on Patriot’s Day in the past, Guerin and Abbott took the train to Boston with a group of friends from Newport last Monday, to attend the Red Sox game and participate in the festivities that surround the marathon.  

The group of friends left the game early, and headed towards Forum Restaurant, a prime location to watch the runners cross the finish line. Some went inside, but Abbott and Guerin were still outside next to the bouncer, waiting to get in.  They never suspected in seconds, their lives would be changed forever.  

“We saw the first blast,” said Guerin.  “We weren’t sure what it was.  It was a big cloud of smoke maybe a half mile down the road. We didn’t know if it was something celebratory. We certainly didn’t think it was an explosion or a bomb,” she recalled.     

Then, there was a second blast.

“The force pushed us into the bar,” said Guerin.  A Red Sox bag she was holding was pulled from her hand.  “You couldn’t hear anything. Heather kept saying she thought her leg was on fire.”  A woman they had never met knelt down next to Abbott.  

Guerin held her friend’s hand as the paramedics arrived and quickly applied a tourniquet.   “She didn’t want to let my hand go,” she said, as she fought tears from the memory.  

She didn’t know if seconds, minutes or hours went by before they went outside, but she wasn’t prepared for what she was about to witness.

“When we walked out the door, it was a war zone,” said Guerin.  “Bodies were covered in sheets. Blood was everywhere,” she remembered. She saw her Red Sox bag on the ground, covered in blood.  

“Those people that were standing next to me, they lost limbs. They guarded me,” Guerin recalled quietly.  “I can’t comprehend it.  It is a scene I just want to forget.”

As the ambulance left to take Abbott to Brigham and Women's Hospital, Guerin noticed the area had been evacuated. There were no cars, no cabs, no way to get the hospital other than by foot.  

“We ran, we don’t know how long. We just ran,” she remembered.  When they arrived at the hospital, it was swarming with FBI and police.  At that point they knew the blast that caused death and bloodshed was a bomb, and their friend had been injured by an act of terror.

Abbott was already in surgery. Her friends nervously waited in a large room together with the loved ones of all the victims from the attack.  Cell phones didn’t work; they had limited access to anything outside of that room.  

“It didn’t feel real,” she explained.  “You just saw one doctor after another come in and say they had to amputate limbs. One after another.”

After several surgeries over the course of last week, doctors were forced to take the same action with Abbott’s leg.  On Monday afternoon, doctors removed her left leg, from the knee down.  

“You wonder where she and other people who were injured get their strength,” Guerin reflected.  She tries not to think about the horrors she witnessed, and instead is focused Abbott’s recovery. It is her friend's strength that inspires her to keep going.   

“You just don’t want to be a victim.  You will be damned if they make you a victim,” she said.  

Friday’s capture of the suspects provided Guerin with a certain sense of relief, but she grapples with strong emotions.

“I have lots of anger, sadness, confusion.  I’m trying to wrap my arms around it all,” she said. Although she has heard rumors that people have expressed sympathy for the youngest bombing suspect, she does not share in that pity.  

“He’s 19 and very young, absolutely.  But you choose to destroy a community, a country, people’s lives.”

She knows there is a long road ahead for her friend, but with the help of family and friends, she said they will take it day by day, and eventually heal.

“I just can’t wait for her to be home,” she said. 

How can you help?

• A fund was established by her family for donations to relieve impending financial burdens. Click here to donate. 
• There is a family sponsored fundraiser at Dockside located at 1 Waites Wharf on Sunday, April 28 starting at 2 p.m. Suggested minimum donation is $20.   Live music by Those Guys and Chopville.