A Man Who Lost His Leg In The 2013 Bombing Completed This Year’s Boston Marathon

Patrick Downes is one of the many people whose lives were impacted by the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013. While Downes was fortunate enough to survive the attack, he lost one of his legs. It’s the kind of thing that would lead to some people never running again, but Downes persevered and decided to run the race this year.

With the help of a prosthetic leg, Downes finished the race at 2:49 p.m., which was the time that the first bomb went off in 2013. It took him just under six hours to finish the race.

Once he finished, Downes embraced a number of people, including his wife Jessica Kensky, who was unable to run because she both of her legs were amputated as a result of the bombing. He also met up with Bill Richard, whose 8-year-old son Martin died in the explosion.

According to CBS Boston, one of the reasons Downes ran this year was to endow the Boston College Strong Scholarship. An alumnus of Boston College, Downes and his team need to raise $250,000 for the scholarship, which goes to a BC student with a physical disability. If you’d like to learn more about the scholarship, you can do that right here.