After losing leg in bombing, survivor is marrying firefighter who saved her
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They say love finds you when you least expect it, but those words have never been truer than for Roseann Sdoia, who met the future love of her life shortly after she was injured in the Boston Marathon bombing.
It was 2013 and Sdoia’s life was about to change forever – in multiple ways. While cheering on participants at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, Sdoia’s leg was badly injured when the second bomb exploded.
Fortunately, a guardian angel arrived in the form of a fireman.
Mike Materia saved Sdoia’s life by using a belt to create a tourniquet. When the ambulance arrived Materia held Sodia’s hand as they traveled to the hospital, comforting her when she thought she was going to die.
“I asked him if I was going to die. And he told me that I was going to be OK, that I only had a flesh wound,” she said according to the New York Post.
That “flesh wound” resulted in an amputated leg. While Sdoia was still in the hospital Materia returned to see how she was doing.
Sdoia’s mom attempted to play matchmaker.
“She was like, ‘Oh, did you see that firefighter? He’s so cute.’ And I was like, ‘Mom, I just got blown up,’” Sdoia said, according to Fox News.
Sdoia’s attitude toward Materia started to change when Materia visited her on a regular basis. Slowly, a friendship developed and two months after the bombing they went on their first date. They dated for 3 years before Materia proposed in December of 2016 while on vacation in Nantucket.
He proposed on the deck of the whaling museum using their beloved dog, Sal. Materia made a special dog tag for Sal that read,“Mike wants to know . . . If you’ll marry him.”
The couple plans on getting married later this year, proving beautiful things can come out of devestation.
