Community Corner

Last Boston Marathon Bombing Victim Heads Home

On the 100th day since the April 15 attacks, Stoneham resident Marc Fucarile left Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital for the next stage of his recovery.

By Becca Manning

It’s been 100 days since the Boston Marathon bombings and 100 days since Stoneham resident Marc Fucarile has slept in his own bed or had dinner with his fiancée Jen Regan and five-year-old son Gavin.

Today—finally—he went home.

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Fucarile was the last of the patients injured in the April 15 marathon bombings to be released from Massachusetts General Hospital and on Wednesday he was the final patient to be released from Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Charlestown.

Though he was happy to be going home, Fucarile acknowledged that he still had a long road ahead of him.

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Along with having his right leg amputated above the knee, Fucarile suffered multiple fractures and injuries to major blood vessels in his left leg, burn injuries on his legs, trunk, back and pelvis, spine fractures, the rupture of both eardrums and multiple shrapnel wounds to his extremities and torso, according to Dr. Jeffrey Schneider, medical director of the burn and musculoskeletal program at Spaulding.

Fucarile underwent 49 different procedures during 16 separate visits to the operating room, Schneider said.

“Marc has worked hard to get where he is and has come a long way,” Schneider said.

Surrounded by friends, family and Spaulding staff, Fucarile expressed gratitude to all who helped save his life on the day of the bombings and those who have contributed to his rehabilitation—from medical care and physical therapy to cards and words of support.

“This has been a day we all have been looking forward to,” he said.

But he also noted that he and other bombing survivors “still have other procedures and surgeries to go.”

“These are lifelong injuries,” he said. “Boston, please do not forget about that day or the people who need you.”

When asked what he was most looking forward to about going home, Fucarile said he wanted to spend time with his son and fiancée and to enjoy his mom’s ham and cheese omelets.

“She’s made a few and brought them in, but they’re not as good,” he said.

Regan joked that she had recently purchased a front-load washer and dryer “so he can do the laundry in his wheelchair” but also spoke seriously about what it meant to have her fiance home.

“It means the world,” she said. “Just the simple things that you sort of brush aside in your everyday life, like family dinners. Gavin hasn’t had his dad home for dinner for 100 days.”

Fucarile said he hoped his experience would teach his son that “you can overcome obstacles in your life. Just because tragedy happens doesn’t mean you have to stay down.”

The bombings also taught Gavin that sometimes “bad people in the world do bad things” and about respecting those with disabilities, Fucarile said.

“I hope he grows up to be a person that respects people and is aware that just because you have something different doesn’t mean you’re different,” he said.

Fucarile said he harbors no real anger for the perpetrators of the bombing because of what he suffered through.

“I’m more mad at what they did to the families that they took their children from,” he said. “I’m more mad at that than what happened to me. I’m here. I’m lucky to be alive. That’s how I look at that. Anger? They’ll get theirs.”


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