A 60-year-old northwest Indiana mother who had been watching her daughter run in the Boston Marathon on Monday is among those seriously injured in the blasts.
Beth Roche, of Highland, Ind., located about 20 miles east of Chicago, had been cheering near the finish line just after her daughter Rebecca completed the 26.2-mile race when the first bomb went off.
Speaking to Katie Couric from a hospital bed at Boston's Tufts Medical Center, Beth Roche described the terrifying scene in an interview: "All of a sudden, I was on the ground and there was glass all over the place and the noise was so loud that my ears were ringing a little bit. And then I looked down and I saw that my leg was all opened up. … Then this policeman came and he was so nice and was trying to help. He kept saying, 'It's OK. It's going to be OK.'"
According to the Indianapolis Star, Beth Roche suffered a compound fracture of her left tibia in the blast, in addition to her left knee cap being shattered. She is expected to walk again, but her recovery is anticipated to take between eight and 10 weeks.
Rebecca Roche explained to the Boston Globe that Monday marked her first Boston Marathon and that she was raising funds for the New England Aquarium. Her parents, Beth and her father Ken, had driven nearly 1,000 miles from northwest Indiana to see her complete the feat.
Speaking to WBUR Radio, Rebecca described the scene after the blast, which she said she knew had taken place almost exactly where her family and friends were standing.
"Everybody was crying and screaming and police were pushing us. People were hiding under buses and panicking and trying to wedge themselves between buildings. It was just chaos," Rebecca told the station. (Listen below.)
Rebecca's friend, Lee Ann Yanni, also suffered a compound tibia fracture in the blast and is also recovering at Tufts, according to the Globe.
“I can’t watch the news [anymore]. I’ve seen my mom on a stretcher on the news too many times. I’ve seen first responders caring for Lee Ann on the news too many times," Rebecca told the paper.
At least three people were killed and over 180 others wounded in the Monday blasts. Despite more than 2,000 tips pouring in to the FBI and police amid their ongoing investigation, no suspects or motives have been named as of early Wednesday.
Back in Chicago on Tuesday evening, runners held a lakefront "unity run" in honor of those impacted by the Boston terror.
"The point is just to get runners together whether they were in Boston or not, whether they're a beginning runner or a marathon runner, we're all impacted by what happened," Wendy Jaehn of the Chicago Area Runners Association explained to NBC Chicago.
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