Once at the hospital on the day of the attack, a surgeon sifted through the remaining tissue and muscle, cutting away what was dirty and dying. The first bomb that detonated had blown off most of Jeff Bauman's lower legs. Boston Heraldĭid the real Jeff Bauman lose both legs in the attack? "It's so deep, the emotions in your mind and your heart, that you pretty much wish you are the one who (was) dead and not your son," says Arredondo. He then poured gasoline on the van and himself, igniting it with a propane torch, which left him with burns on 26 percent of his body. Like Arredondo says in the movie, when he received the news in 2004 that his son Alex had died in combat in Iraq, he grabbed a hammer and smashed the windshield of the van belonging to the group of Marines who came to deliver the news. He had been battling drug addiction and depression (largely over the loss of his brother). As the Arredondo character explains in the Stronger Boston Marathon movie, he also lost a second son, Brian, who took his own life at 24 on the anniversary of Alexander's death. As a tribute to his son, he handed out flags at the marathon. Helping you made me feel like I could help my son, and for that I am grateful." In real life, Arredondo's son Alexander was a Marine who was killed in Iraq in 2004. In the Stronger movie, Carlos Arredondo (Carlos Sanz) tells Jeff Bauman (Jake Gyllenhaal), "You remind me of my son. Watch video of a bloodied Arredondo being interviewed shortly after helping Bauman. On the way, he noticed that he was having trouble hearing. He became the first casualty taken to Boston Medical Center. They arrived at a medical tent where Bauman was loaded into an ambulance. Arredondo took off running beside Bauman, trying to hold the tourniquet together that had come loose on his leg. A woman brought a wheelchair over and with the help of Panter, they lifted Bauman into the chair. He tore pieces of fabric from a shirt and tied them around what was left of Bauman's legs. Arredondo beat out the flames on Bauman's burning shirt and shouted for help. Bauman sat up when he saw the man in the cowboy hat approaching. He stepped away to tend to a woman on the ground nearby, whose eyes were fixed open and revealed little signs of life.Ĭarlos Arredondo had been across the street and came running over to help. Panter placed a makeshift tourniquet around Bauman's right leg and put a jacket on top of him. He shoved the loose tissue back into Bauman's leg, which caused Bauman to scream. Panter, who had himself been unharmed in the blast, pulled Bauman away from the mass of casualties on the ground. Like we briefly see in the movie, Allan Panter, a Gainesville, Georgia surgeon who had been near Bauman in the crowd, was the first to help him. Was the man in the cowboy hat, Carlos Arredondo, the first person to come to Jeff Bauman's aid? She did not see the explosions like in the movie. She couldn't tell what had happened and wondered why everyone stopped. In researching the Stronger true story, we learned that Erin Hurley was about a mile away from the finish line when the bombs went off. How far away was Jeff's girlfriend Erin when the bombs went off? Watch a Jeff Bauman interview where he describes seeing the terrorist. Before he knew it, he was on the ground with bodies and blood strewn around him. It was then that Bauman saw a flash and heard a bang. He didn't know it then, but the man he had seen was terrorist Tamerlan Tsarnaev. When he looked over his right shoulder again, the man was gone but he'd left his backpack behind on the sidewalk. And why was he staying back so far? Bauman turned his head forward and scanned the finishing area for Erin. The cap was low over the man's eyes, and in addition to being peculiarly dressed, he looked far too serious for the occasion. As he watched for Erin, he looked behind him and saw a man in a dark, heavy coat, a baseball cap, sunglasses, with a black bag over his right shoulder. Bauman remained near the back of the spectators that were five and six deep. Remy and Michele worked their way through the crowd and closer to the street. He was joined by her two roommates, Remy Lawler and Michele Mahoney. After seeing his girlfriend Erin at a marathon checkpoint in Newton, Jeff Bauman went to the finish line to wait for her. He really did make a big sign and a photo of him holding it can be seen in Jeff's memoir Stronger.ĭid Jeff Bauman notice one of the bombers before the blasts? In the movie, Jeff Bauman (Jake Gyllenhaal) tells Erin (Tatiana Maslany) that he is going to make "a big sign" for her to cheer her on at the marathon.
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