Mother lost legs, daughter nearly died in bombing
Monday was supposed to be a big celebration that no one in Carmen Acabbo’s family wanted to miss. It was her first marathon, and she had spent the past year training for the challenge.
Her sister, Celeste Corcoran, a constant supporter, wanted to be there cheering for Carmen with her 18-year-old daughter Sydney and their other friends and family. The mother and daughter were eagerly waiting at the Boston Marathon finish line when Carmen was less than a ½ mile away.
Carmen’s husband, Rich, snapped photos of his wife along the route and followed her as she progressed through the course. He was watching for her at the end with their three young children. The four were across the street from Rich's sister-in-law and niece when a flash and loud blast went off. What happened after, changed their lives forever.
“It was surreal how loud the noise was,” said Rich. Carmen was only the length of the street away from where the fist bomb went off. “I can still hear it, it was deafening. My young son started to cry.”
Celeste and Sydney were standing close to the explosion, leaving them critically wounded. Graphic photos taken immediately after the incident show the women being cared for as they lay on the ground in pools of blood.
Celeste, a hairdresser who works on her feet, had to have both of her legs amputated. Sydney had her second round of surgery this morning. Like so many others waiting on the sidelines to congratulate friends and family, they are now struggling to recover from the terrorist attack.
Watch Gary Tuchman's report to learn more about their family. If you'd like to help, donations can be made on this site: http://www.gofundme.com/celesteandsydney
|
|
Post by: Gary Tuchman, Ismael Estrada Filed under: Boston Marathon Attack |
About this Show:
Anderson Cooper goes beyond the headlines to tell stories from many points of view, so you can make up your own mind about the news. Tune in weeknights at 8 and 10 ET on CNN.
Questions or comments? Send an email
Want to know more? Go behind the scenes with AC361°
Subscribe to the podcast
On Twitter
Search the AC360 blog
For those interested in their progress, Sydney has gone home. Both she and her mother are doing well and I think everyone could learn from their positivity. Kudos to members of All Time Low and Mayday Parade for visiting this remarkable family since Sydney couldn't attent their concert.
Hey Peter, Obama is anymore responsible for this than Bush was for 9-11. Neither one knew this was going to happen. The United States has always paid attention to other countries' problem. It just didn't begin with Obama
It's a shame that something like this has to happen in order for Obama to concentrate on our countries problems instead of paying attention to every other countries problems. Too bad his attention towards this will be short lived.
The reason he's focused on other countries is to stop people like the bombers from being trained out of country so they can bring terrorism to the United States. Of course, that's just a bullet point on an agenda of tons of diplomacy between countries that has to be completed before the end of the year. Plus maybe you've forgot all the issues at home that his cabinet is trying to solve gun control, getting the economy on track, public safety, and the list goes on. Being the leader of any nation isn't so cut and dry, don't act like you could do better because most of us would crumble under the constant pressure that our presidents and leaders take.
About the search for the Boston marathon bomber(s), why don't the authorities poste a picture online, in newspapers, on T.V. etc. of the videos that they have in their possession of the bomber placing the bombs. Even if he is in disguise someone might recognize him, whether it might be a hat, clothes, the way he walks. They can get a lot of good tips that might find him faster. And why aren't the profilers sharing his profile with the public as well? Whether he is a home grown or an international terrorist, he could be caught much faster this way if all of this info is released and shared.