Boston Marathon Bombing Victim & Amputee Is Determined To Dance & Run Again

Adrianne Haslet-Davis was shopping near where the Boston Marathon was taking place 2 weeks ago with her husband when the bombs went off. Sadly she lost the lower part of her left leg which had to be amputated. It’s sad enough when a tragedy like this occurs and many people are injured, or even die. What make’s Adrianne’s story so heart-wrenching is that she is a dancer.

She has been all over the press lately for her courageous story and brave spirit inspiring a nation while it grieves over this horrific incident.

32 year old Adrianne described the incident to CNN in a very matter of fact way.

“There was this silence that came over the crowd,” she said as a plume of dust and debris enveloped Boylston Street. “And I thought, ‘Oh no, there can never just be one.'”

“I sat up and said, ‘Oh my gosh, my foot. There’s something wrong with my foot.'” Following the ordeal, the dance instructor at the Arthur Murray Dance Studios in Boston went into survival mode and has already been through a lot emotionally and physically.

“I have moments when I throw water bottles across the room and throw my walker and just get angry and mad that someone did this to me… and that I won’t be able to be dance with the same movements that I had before,” she said.

“Dressing takes longer and showers take longer, and I get angry.”

We were watching a story on her on Access Hollywood and were so blown away by her strength and spirit. She is determined to dance again one day and not give up being resilient. Here’s the kicker, she wants to run the Boston Marathon next year in honor of all the victims who died and were injured this year. “I’m not a runner at all,” she laughed. “But I wasn’t a ballroom dancer at one point in my life either… so I’m going to do it.”

ABC’s Dancing With The Stars heard about her amazing story and featured her on their show last night. Pundits are predicting they may even offer her a spot on the show next season, assuming her recovery goes well. She expressed to the press that she harbors a secret ambition to dance with pro dancer Derek Hough on the show!

“Of all the remarkable stories that have come out of the Boston Marathon attack, one in particular has touched all of us here,”  DWTS host Tom Bergeron told America on this week’s episode. “Adrianne Haslet is the ballroom dancer whose amazingly positive outlook is a testament to the power of the human spirit.”

She has begun her rehab at Spaulding hospital and a segment on her recovery was featured on last night’s show.

“I absolutely will dance again,” Adrianne said in the piece.

“I will do whatever it takes to get there. When I heard from ‘Dancing With the Stars’ I was incredibly nervous, excited, happy. I just couldn’t believe it.”

While there is so much noise and coverage on the bombers, their families, their motives etc, we think there should be more focus on stories like Adrianne’s. She is a young woman who is determined not to let a tragedy get the better of her life. She hopes to inspire many other victims and amputees out there that their lives are not over just because they have lost part of their physical body.

It brings tears to our eyes to see how this young woman can rise above her circumstance, stay smiling and be an inspiration to many who are watching her story. While it is an awful thing to have a limb amputated, she is making the most of it and is now known around the country for her bravery.

It’s easy to ask “why do bad things always happen to good people?” But it’s only the good people that have the privilege and gift of being able to use a tragedy to turn their lives around and be an inspiration to the world.

Stories like Adrianne’s gives us hope that good triumphs over evil, and while our bodies are fragile and can be broken, our spirits as human beings are made of steel cannot be touched.

Watch her feature on Dancing With The Stars Below: