Boston bombing victim's battle for recovery just beginning
(CBS News) BOSTON -- It was one month ago Wednesday that two bombs went off near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring more than 280. Fifteen people lost limbs; six people were still in the hospital Wednesday night.
Thirty-four-year-old Marc Fucarile was just four feet away when the second bomb went off. His right leg was blown off in the explosion, and, despite 15 surgeries, doctors still aren't sure they can save his shattered left leg.
"If they can't get me to the best useable shape, we should cut it off," he says. "Because it will be just a useless leg, and to have a prosthesis would be better. ... I'm definitely OK with that. 100%"
Asked to describe what a good day is like for him, he replies, "Not being in the pain I'm in right now."
But he's pushing through it.
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"It's so hard, because the pain, like I said, feels like this leg is still here," he says. "And I'm getting pains that are, like, the thing is twisted, you know, through a meat grinder."
Fucarile was literally on fire when rescuers got to him. The flames caused third-degree burns on his back. His body is covered in bruises from shrapnel, and a piece of metal remains lodged in his heart.
"Everybody has had it -- had it hard," he says. "Everybody, you know. All the victims. Not one injury's easier than another. You know, just because I'm here longer doesn't mean someone else's pain is not worse."
In the last 30 days, Fucarile's family -- including his fiancee, Jennifer Regan and his five-year-old son, Gavin -- has taken shifts to make sure he's never alone. Stephanie Baron is his sister.
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"I wish for him to be home with his son and have some kind of normalcy again," she says. "And I know he'll get there. He is the strongest person."
Asked what he's been thinking about, Marc says, "Just how I want to get back to being normal, you know? I just want to get back to living life with my girl and my son and planning our wedding and see my brother get married. He postponed his wedding for me, you know, 'cause I'm his best man. He wants me to stand there by his side."
He says having family, friends, even strangers by his side to be his best medicine.
For information on how to help Marc Fucarile, go to www.gofundme.com/marcfucarile.
