In Boston Bombing Two Brothers Each Lost a Leg
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Liz Norden(BOSTON) — The tragedy of the terror attacks at the Boston Marathon was compounded for one family, when two brothers standing near the finish line each lost a leg in the blasts.
The men’s mother, Liz Norden, learned of her son Paul Norden’s injuries when he called from an ambulance on his way to one of the seven Boston-area hospitals that received the wounded.
It would be several hours later before she learned that her other son J.P. Norden had been similarly injured and taken to a different trauma center.
“My son [Paul] called me at 3 on my cell phone to tell me that he was hurt really bad and he couldn’t find his brother or his girlfriend and he was being rushed to the hospital. We couldn’t find my other son for a long time afterwards,” Mrs. Norden told ABC News.
The two brothers, two of Norden’s five children, were standing near the finish line watching a friend compete in the race when two explosions rocked the area within seconds of each other. Standing nearby was Martin Richard, an 8-year-old boy and one of the three victims killed in the blast.
Paul, 31, was taken to Beth Israel Deaconess hospital and J.P., 32, was rushed to Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Both men had lost part of a leg in the same spot, just below the knee. Mrs. Norden did not know which legs they each lost.
“They both lost a leg below the knee. I don’t really know too much because it’s just so overwhelming. It’s like a nightmare,” she said.
Neither man knows the other was injured and is in the hospital, their mother said.
“They don’t know… They have them so sedated they don’t know what’s going on so neither one of them knows,” she said. Both men were due for surgery Tuesday morning. The brothers attended the race with five other friends, all of whom were also injured and taken to area hospitals.
“Another one of their friends lost a leg. It’s just terrible. They’re such great kids. They really are,” she said.
“I really don’t know what to say. Please say prayers for them,” she said.
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio