BOSTON (WHDH) - Martin Richard, Ling-Zi Lu, and Krystle Campbell were killed and dozens of others were injured along the Boston Marathon route in 2013.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer Sean Collier was killed by the bombers in the days following the initial attack and Boston Police Sgt. Dennis Simmons died as a result of his injuries one year later.
Now, seven years after the city was rocked to its core, one family who was at the finish line is giving back to healthcare workers who were on the front lines that day and every day since.
“Once again, seven years later here they are fighting again and they’re kindness was amazing,” Liz Norden said.
Seven years after her two sons each lost a leg in the bombing, Norden and her family are donating 700 meals from the Black Jack Pasta Restaurant in the South End to health care workers at the Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, West Campus.
“They are really angels on earth, they’re wonderful heroes,” Norden said. “The definition of Boston Strong.”
Norden’s son Paul was taken to Beth Israel to be cared for and her son JP recovered at Brigham and Women’s Hospital but is now receiving treatment at B.I.
“They were so incredible to my family in the darkest point in our lives,” she said. “We could never repay them for what they did for our family but we can let them know how grateful and how appreciative and we are thinking of them at this time.”
Norden said the family got the idea for this when she received a picture of a Beth Israel doctor wearing a t-shirt from the family’s foundation — “A Leg Forever.”
Norden said she knows the doctor and said that she wears the shirt under her scrubs.
Senior Vice President Marsha Maurer said hospital staffers remember taking care of Paul Norden just after the attack.
“So, to have them returning now and delivering food for our staff, many of whom cared for them many years ago, people are really excited,” she said. “We’ve been having a buzz with emails going around for all the folks who cared for Paul back in the day.”
Maurer sais the work inside hospitals is hard and getting harder every day. But she said all the support they’re getting from the public really does lift them up.
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