We brought you the story of Rebekah Gregory earlier this year when she took her first steps on a new prosthetic leg on New Year’s Eve. Gregory (formerly DiMartino) has had 17 surgeries since falling victim to the bombings of the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013, but she’s moving on with life and trying to spin the attacks into a positive.
That last point becomes much clearer once you read her letter to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the men behind the attacks. It comes after Gregory provided testimony during Tsarnaev’s trial and it adds a firm exclamation point to what she had to say in court. From USA Today:
Rebekah Gregory, who lost much of her left leg, posted her open letter to Tsarnaev on her Facebook page hours after giving her emotional testimony in federal court.
In court Wednesday, Gregory of Houston told how she tried to help her 5-year-old son, Noah, who cried, “Mommy, Mommy, Mommy,” but her own injuries were too severe.
“My bones were lying next to me on the sidewalk,” Gregory said from the stand, a few feet from Tsarnaev. “At that point, I felt that was the day I would die.”
That emotion carried over into the full letter embedded below. It reads like a defiant shout at terror, something that sounds like emotion baiting on my part, but really shines through when you read. The letter is the sort of thing you read and feel the relief behind getting it on the page:
I can’t imagine going through a traumatic experience like this and keeping the positive attitude intact. Medicine is a lot better these days, but I don’t know if I’d be able to look past any anger inside. The fact that she can and is apparently using it to help others is a nice way to tie up the aftermath of the Boston bombings. Not everybody can say the same, but small victories can mean a lot.
(Via Bro Bible / Rebekah Gregory DiMartino / USA Today)