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CNN Special Reports

Back to Boston: Moments of Impact

Aired April 21, 2014 - 22:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To me, there's something inherently powerful of a still image. It's a moment frozen in time.

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The images we will always remember of five days we can never forget.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was like the worst thing I have ever seen in my life.

KAYE: Stories of a gravely wounded mother and daughter.

CELESTE CORCORAN, BOMBING SURVIVOR: I remember thinking like, it's too much. I'm going to die.

KAYE: And a man instantly losing both legs.

JEFF BAUMAN, BOMBING SURVIVOR: Next thing you know, I hear fireworks and I'm on the ground.

KAYE: Stories of heroism, of saving lives, and springing into action.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Couldn't really think of, OK, this is a terrorist.

KAYE: Stories told by these photos frame by frame.

"Back to Boston: Moments of Impact."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Good evening. I'm Randi Kaye.

It's been a year now since the Boston bombings. There's been time to reflect and begin to process what happened. Tonight, we focus on several iconic images from the bombings and its aftermath.

We meet the photographers who took these photos and meet the people in them to try and understand what happened in that moment and how it has changed everything since.

Here's our special report, "Back to Boston: Moments of Impact."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN TLUMACKI, PHOTOGRAPHER, "BOSTON GLOBE": I could see the blood just coming out of her body. It was that horrific. I mean, it was just shocking at first to see and then for me to make my way into it and decide what to shoot and not to shoot. I mean, is -- this isn't the worst photo I have taken that day, but it's pretty bad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Part of the American sports scene since 1897.

SYDNEY CORCORAN, BOMBING SURVIVOR: I was with my mother, my father and my aunt Carmen Acabbo. She was running the marathon. She's my mom's sister and we're all very close, so we wanted to support her.

C. CORCORAN: We were tracking Carmen through our cell phone as to where she was in the race. So when we knew she was getting close, we decided to, you know, go to the finish line.

KEVIN CORCORAN, BOMBING SURVIVOR: We weren't there more than seemed like 15 or 20 minutes before everything happened.

C. CORCORAN: It was just the loudest noise I have ever heard, so, like, from that second, both my eardrums got blown out.

K. CORCORAN: As I recall seeing the people behind me pushed getting back from the blast and even Sydney falling backwards and getting tossed back, and I just kind of was pushed down.

The smoke and debris and everything just went past me. Everything became a gray cloud of dust.

C. CORCORAN: I just remember being sort of thrown and I remember things hitting my face. I remember just trying to breathe.

K. CORCORAN: And by the time I turned back around, everybody who was in front of me was now on the ground. I turned around and there was nobody in front of me.

I thought that, OK, where's my wife? And I just slowly looked down and I see her and her eyes are open, so I realize, all right, she is OK. She is OK.

TLUMACKI: My first look at the scene of the bodies was over the fence and straight on. And I saw Celeste. I guess time just stood still for a moment.

C. CORCORAN: I just looked down at my legs, and I just saw blood and bone. And I just immediately was like, no, no, like I couldn't -- I couldn't comprehend. It was sort of like a panicked feeling, like I wanted to just change it. Like, no, this couldn't have happened. No.

K. CORCORAN: She's bleeding and her feet were literally almost totally separated from the rest of her body.

You knew right away that there was no way they were going to be able to repair the damage. It was just too, too far gone, too catastrophic.

I immediately just took off my belt and put it on one leg to try to stop the bleeding. TLUMACKI: You can see right there Kevin's just tightening a belt on her. She's struggling to look up. I just feel so bad. I mean, I look at that and it's just -- it's not good.

K. CORCORAN: I had turned around after I put the belt and just looked behind us, and I couldn't see Sydney at all. She was immediately lost to me, which was so scary. I have to just hope and trust that somebody has her and is taking care of her.

KAYE: Do you feel like you had to make a decision that day between your wife an your daughter?

K. CORCORAN: Yes, of course, a little bit, although it was an easy decision because I was there with Celeste and with her wounds. I wasn't about to leave her to go find Sydney, because I knew we could get separately extremely quickly and easily.

KAYE: Did you understand what was happening?

C. CORCORAN: I did. I did. And then, I said, is Sydney OK? And he said, I think she is. And I didn't worry about her after that.

I think I knew how gravely injured I was. And then I think then I asked my husband, are my feet attached to my legs? Because I knew it was bad. And he said, yes. So then I just remember sort of holding on to that and thinking, OK, I'm going to get to a hospital. I'm going to have surgery. They will be able to fix them. It's going to be OK.

K. CORCORAN: I didn't tell her how bad it was, even though I knew in the back of my mind they weren't going to be able to save them. I just kissed the side of her face and just -- I tried to relax her. I was just trying to get her to be comfortable, because I knew she was in pain.

C. CORCORAN: I think there's no words to describe it. It's just excruciating. I'm going to cry. I just remember he was -- he was so good. He just tried to keep he calm. As soon as he had the tourniquets and he had someone -- I think someone was with him putting pressure.

I just remember it hurt so much, them pressing down on me, but I knew that they had to do it. And then I just remember him like lying down next to me and he was just touching my hair and just saying, you know, I'm with you. I got you. It's going to be OK. I'm going to get you out of here.

KAYE: And you trusted him?

C. CORCORAN: Absolutely.

KAYE: Did you think you weren't going to make it?

C. CORCORAN: I think at first. When I first looked down and the pain, and I remember thinking like, it's too much. I'm going to die. But then -- and sort of like, almost like I wanted to. But, like, you know, right on the heels of that, I was, like, hell no. I can't. I can't. I'm not going to die. I can't. Like, I won't.

I remember, you know, them taking me out of the ambulance and I remember all the emergency room people, everybody frantically doing things, cutting clothing off. I remember feeling my arms and my hands, like, pins and needles everywhere. They just kept telling me that I was doing good and I was doing OK while they were working on me.

And I don't know if they had to straighten out my legs. I just know that they manipulated my legs, and I did scream then. And then one doctor, I remember, came over to me and he had a paper, and he said, I need -- we need your permission. You need to sign this to amputate. And I just remember sort of like taking a breath. And I looked at him and I'm like, you really have to amputate my legs? And he said, yes, we do.

So then I was just like, OK. I just knew that the pain had to stop, and for the pain to stop, they needed to put me under, and if they had to take my legs, then so be it.

TLUMACKI: Then as I got through the fence there, there I found Sydney. I lingered. You know, something about her struck me. She just had that look on her face. Basically, she was helpless. She doesn't know what's going to happen to her.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TLUMACKI: My first photos were of Sydney's mother being helped. And then as I got through the fence there, I found Sydney. I lingered. You know, something about her struck me. She just had that look on her face. Basically, she was helpless. She doesn't know what's going to happen to her.

S. CORCORAN: We were very close to the first bomb. I don't think I will ever forget it.

It was -- the first went off and, immediately, like, your ears feel like they just have like plugs in them or something. And it's very faint, but you can hear people, like, screaming. I don't remember going down on the ground but I remember, like, kind of, I don't know, coming to and seeing everyone around me. And then I was getting scared, and I knew what happened, because so many people were grabbing at my leg.

TLUMACKI: I didn't know who -- who she was. I just saw a woman laying on the ground being helped by a man wearing a red T-shirt with his baseball cap backwards.

The closer I got with my camera and I was shooting, it was almost like he was whispering to her and he was comforting her. In one frame, he was holding her head off the ground and he has right hand on her chest almost checking to see if her heart was beating. I heard people saying, oh, she's hurt. She's really hurt. Somebody else was trying to stop her from bleeding to death.

ZACH MIONE, BOMBING SURVIVOR: There were two gentlemen that were assisting Sydney. And one of them asked for a tourniquet and kind of just had me take over from what he was doing. So, I tied it off and just kept my hands there.

S. CORCORAN: I could see, like, my leg. Like, it was open. And it wasn't good. I knew it was bad.

MATT SMITH, BOMBING SURVIVOR: We got there and from the bottom of her right knee, all the way up, she was open and the first gentleman was worried about her artery and he's -- we were worried. But we just tried not to show it.

MIONE: When I was helping her, you know, I kept my hands and I tried keeping pressure, but I would say to use -- my head was on a swivel, so to say, and there was just so much -- there was just so much, and it was awful. It was awful.

S. CORCORAN: I would almost have these moments where I would start to freak out a little and cry. And then I would kind of just like look around again and try to get a better grasp of what was happening, but I would keep having like those like little moments of panic.

TLUMACKI: And at one point, she was looking up straight up, and then she lifted her hand and put it on her face. It was almost like she couldn't take it anymore.

But I just remember also the -- how hard these guys were working on her.

S. CORCORAN: I definitely remember Matt first, because he was so close. Even if he was holding my leg, his face was always there. He asked me, like, do you want me to stay with you? And it was a familiar face from the moment it happened, so I said, yes, like, yes, I want you to stay with me.

And I remember him, like, telling me, like to grab his hand and, like, he kept saying, come on, buddy, stay with me. Like, keep your eyes open. I remember asking, like, like, what's going on, asking where my parents were and if they were OK. And I think I was trying to ask, like, what happened to my leg? Do I have my legs?

KAYE: Do you remember how he responded to that?

S. CORCORAN: He was saying, like, you're OK. You're going to be OK.

SMITH: Her face was white. Her eyes were white. You know, you look at her and you don't know. You honestly don't know.

S. CORCORAN: My entire body from head to toe was like going to sleep, and it just felt tingly, probably from, like -- as soon as I was on the ground, it started to feel tingly because the blood was leaving me so quick. And I started feeling really, really, really, really cold. TLUMACKI: And Sydney's just, you know, turning pale. I just remember people saying, where's the EMT? We need a stretcher.

KAYE: Do you remember what you were thinking while you were laying there on the ground?

S. CORCORAN: I remember thinking, like, if I had lost my parents, and I really thought, like, I was going to die. And I thought like I was fading.

KAYE: So there was a time where you thought you weren't going to survive this?

S. CORCORAN: Absolutely. And when I was in the ambulance, there was a time when he had to brake, like, incredibly fast, and I remember feeling the blood just like come out of my leg, and it was warm all over. And I thought, like, I'm bleeding out, like, I'm not going to make it to the hospital.

TLUMACKI: And she got to the hospital. She was, you know, basically on her last breath with -- you know, losing a lot of blood.

S. CORCORAN: I remember massive amounts of pressure being put on my leg, and it was very painful. At one point, when I was finally in the hospital room and the emergency room, and I just remember asking like, when are you guys going to put me out? Like, I just want to go to sleep, like, just put an end to it.

KAYE: So tell me when you first learned of Sydney's condition and when you first saw her.

K. CORCORAN: All of the families were in one room, and the vascular surgeon came down and asked for the Corcoran family.

So, we brought us -- he brought us into a separate room, and that's when he described the wounds. And he said that, without a doubt, she had a mortal wound and if it wasn't attended to when it was, that she would have died, and she was minutes away from bleeding to death.

KAYE: When was the first time you saw Sydney and could speak to her?

K. CORCORAN: She had the breathing tube in her. She realized I was there. And since she couldn't talk, she was actually trying to talk to me.

So I asked the nurse in the room for some paper and a pen. And I had actually -- before she started writing stuff down, she asked me about mom. I could clearly understand that. So I told her what happened to Celeste. And, of course, Sydney -- it was -- just a single tear just rolls down her face. So then I got the paper. And one of the first things that Sydney wrote down was that, when she first woke up, she thought she was an orphan and that we weren't with her anymore.

S. CORCORAN: I was terrified that they had both died. And I was so scared that I was only going to have my brother left. So I just said, like, OK, like, OK. I just want to see my mom. They put our beds side by side, and we just grabbed on to each other and just looked at each other and just started crying. And we just said, like, we love each other and we were just happy we were alive.

CARLOS ARREDONDO, BOMBING SURVIVOR: I pick up Jeff on the floor. I pick him up, and I set him in the chair, and I told him to hold on, hold on. And I told the lady, we have to rush. We have to rush. Let's move it. Let's move it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELVIN MA, FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER: The images that stuck with me the most are the ones of all the people who thought nothing of themselves, to run back in to that scene not knowing what was there or if it was even safe to help people, help the victims.

I am a freelance photographer. And I am also a staff photographer at Tufts University. This was my third straight marathon. The finish line of a marathon is a special place. Everybody there is in such high spirits, because, you know, they just ran a marathon.

BAUMAN: I was at the finish line with Aaron's (ph) roommates. And we were in a crowd of people watching the race.

Then, like, a guy was making his way to the crowd kind of rudely. And he bumped into me. And I looked at him. And he just looked really out of -- like he didn't belong there. And then, the next thing I know, I was on the ground.

MA: You hear all this cheering and then a loud boom goes off, and then silence. And then the second one went off, and then it got really loud and chaotic.

I knew it was bad when I saw people kicking over gates. I mean, these are the big barriers that, you know, the police set up. People were just throwing them down, running on to the course. I had never seen anything like that.

ARREDONDO: The first scene I saw there was all these bodies on the ground and missing limbs, broken limbs, people crying.

MA: Once I got up above, I just saw just people everywhere. That's when I realized how bad it was, that I started seeing people with pretty horrific injuries. I recognized Carlos Arredondo immediately because he's very active locally. You know, I saw the hat.

ARREDONDO: I went straight down to the ground to help Jeff, but immediately after that, I look at his legs. I asked for help. Here, somebody, help.

BAUMAN: When he came to help me, he -- he was crazy. His adrenaline was definitely, definitely kicking.

ARREDONDO: I pick up Jeff on the floor. I pick him up, and I set him in the chair, and I told him to hold on, hold on. And I told the lady, we have to rush. We have to rush. Let's move it. Let's move it.

BAUMAN: Actually, when Carlos picked me up and threw me into the wheelchair, then I was like, all right, maybe I am going to make it, but before that, no way. I thought I was done.

MA: As he was pushing Jeff out, Jeff's lower body was obscured, and then we saw -- the "Herald" photographer standing next to me was -- he just started, you know, screaming, you know, oh, God. And he turned. He turned his head. I looked down to make sure he was OK. And then I kept on shooting.

ARREDONDO: But I ended talking him all the way to the ambulance, which I pick him up again, and I put him in the bed, and that's the last time I saw Jeff.

MA: To me there's something inherently powerful about the still image. It's a moment frozen in time. It's that memory that you can hold on to. It doesn't just pass. It's right there for you to see for -- you know, forever.

KAYE: Is there a story behind that photo, do you think?

MA: Yes.

I mean, Jeff Bauman survived, you know? And then he regained consciousness and pointed out the suspect. And it's just that -- that little glimmer of hope that, you know, this guy made it, thanks to all these other people who rushed to help him. It's proof that, you know, love for your fellow man and compassion will win out over evil every time, and so that's helped me process a lot of -- a lot of the stuff that I saw.

BILL IFFRIG, BOSTON MARATHON RUNNER: I could feel the force behind me pushing me, and my legs started going just like spaghetti, you know? Had no control.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Boston is different. That's the big one. Everybody wants to do Boston. I felt good, and I was going to sprint a little bit right at the end there. And everything was going fine until that big explosion.

JAVIER PAGAN, BOSTON POLICE DEPARTMENT: It's the only holiday we're not allowed to take off, so we all work marathon Monday. But it was just a peaceful day. It was a beautiful day, and boom.

TLUMACKI: It was a grand finale at the Fourth of July, that loud last bang that shakes your stomach and makes you rattle a little bit. KAYE: So, immediately after that first bomb exploded, you kept shooting. You kept taking pictures. TLUMACKI: I kept shooting. I didn't stop.

PAGAN: I never expected something like that to happen at the finish line, so I was -- I was in shock.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watch out. Watch out.

TLUMACKI: They didn't know what was going on, but I'm just reacting to what they were experiencing.

PAGAN: Once you heard the second blast, you started realizing, this is for real. There's people now all screaming and running in all different directions.

TLUMACKI: My mind is trying to digest that, but I'm looking in front of me of the runner, Bill Iffrig, who falls to the ground from the explosion.

David Ryan, the other "Globe" photographer, was up on the photo bridge. He's got a longer lens, so he can see way down the race course on Boylston Street. The explosion goes off, and I ran towards Bill. I made those photos of Bill, and then there was a brief moment where I turned back and I looked at David. And I looked up at the photo bridge, and I just wanted to make sure he was all right.

BILL IFFRIG, BOSTON MARATHON RUNNER: I could feel the force behind me pushing me, and my legs started going just like spaghetti. You know? Had no control. I was going down.

KAYE: Why Bill Iffrig? What drew your lens to him?

TLUMACKI: Maybe he was the first victim. He's the marathon runner. An old timer who wants to finish the marathon. It's everybody's dream to finish the marathon. It was just an instant. It was like, you know, a 5,000th of a second that that happened. And when I look back at that photo, I just think it tells the story.

IFFRIG: Yes. I'm very lucky. I start getting emotional about it but yes. It was pretty close.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I called my husband, and my husband's a retired sergeant of NYPD who was there for September 11. I called him. I don't even remember, I think was just starting to cry and I said, you know, "There's a lot of casualties and I'm fine but I, you know, just I love you."

TLUMACKI: When you have the camera in front of your face, you're invincible and you're shielded from every emotion in the world. It just wasn't that way that day.

And it was almost like if you took your eye off the camera, you would be like oh my God, is this really happening?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) TLUMACKI: That was my first view of bodies and carnage and legs, you know, blown off. That's when it hit me. That's when I realized that this was, like, the worst thing I've ever seen in my life.

NATALIE STAVAS, BOSTON MARATHON RUNNER: It was a very special day for me. I was with my father, who was running the marathon with me. I was actually feeling a little nervous that morning. I was nervous I was going to let my father down, because he had trained so hard. The first 25 miles I was feeling good. I was feeling strong. It was still a challenging race but I was feeling good.

We had run past the sign that says you have one mile to go, and you honestly don't know how you're going to get through that last mile, but you know you have to. It's the home stretch. And we heard the bombs go off.

TLUMACKI: And I'm literally right on that finish line tape, and I get thrown back a bit by the explosion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God.

TLUMACKI: I heard people saying, "Oh, my God. No. This can't -- no, this can't be true."

Nobody could get to the victims on the sidewalk. Race officials saying, "Rip this down. Rip the fence down." The police, EMTs and volunteers just rip the fence apart.

STAVAS: I just knew I had to get there. I knew if something was that bad that I had to be there. To help. And I jumped over the barricade.

KAYE: Tell me about that barricade.

STAVAS: So I remember, yes, my foot hurt so bad and I remember I was thinking I'm going to have to jump. I'm going to have to jump over something to help these people. I remember thinking, I can do it. I can do it. Your foot doesn't matter. People are dying.

KAYE: So you push through something like that.

STAVAS: Yes. And I started sprinting as fast as I could towards the finish line. I remember running through the crowd. People were running down the street. People were running every which way. Policemen were running at me, trying to get me to stop. I said, "I'm a physician. Please, you have to let me through." And he must have seen the fear, the devastation, the horror in my eyes. Whatever it was he saw, he let me through.

TLUMACKI: I kept shooting. I didn't stop. I kept shooting. And then, it wasn't until I moved up closer to the railing and the fence that I actually saw what had happened. It was probably 15 bodies just kind of like leaning on each other in one area. You know? People helpless. Just looking up.

STAVAS: I just went to the people I saw. Quickly running as fast as I could to the people I saw. And thinking, oh, my God. There's another one. Oh, my God, there's another one.

TLUMACKI: People were smoking. Their bodies were smoking. You know? Their faces were charred. Their clothes were ripped. And, you know, Nicole Gross, one of the victims from Charlotte, North Carolina, she's sitting on the ground. She tried to get up, but she couldn't get up and her legs are all, you know, torn up with shrapnel. And she had that look on her face in shock and disbelief.

KAYE: Tell me what you see when you look at that photo.

STAVAS: I see what I felt. That day. I see the pain. And I see the fear. It brings back the smell. And the taste. Of the smoke. And the smell of the blood. I saw so much blood. You know if you're smelling it and you know if you're seeing that much something truly horrible has happened.

KAYE: Who was the first victim that you reached?

STAVAS: There was a crowd of people at what is now known as the second bombing site, and they were gathered around a woman. There were a lot of people helping. We were -- we were packing her legs with towels, and we were doing CPR. She had such bad injuries to her legs.

KAYE: Gaping wounds?

STAVAS: Yes. Gaping wounds to her legs. We got her in an ambulance. All I can say is we tried our best. We really did.

TLUMACKI: One of the most gruesome things was, you know, a horrific image that I still deal with is one of the women who died. And there was a Boston police officer who leaned over, and she was putting both fingers on her throat to check her pulse. And, you know, it's just her leg was ripped off. And I can't -- I can't look at that picture. It's just so -- it's so difficult.

And it was almost like if you took your eye off the camera you would be, like, "Oh, my God, is this really happening?" And I think it was important for me to just keep photographing it, document it for the world to see. I mean, I think the world needed to see the horror of this -- this terrorism attack.

KAYE: Coming up, moving forward. The year after the bombings.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: God, like everything hurts today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: In the days and months after the bombings, the suspects were captured. The city rebounded. And the injured began a long journey towards healing.

On May 2, Sydney and Celeste met John Tlumacki for the first time.

TLUMACKI: Hi, how are you?

S. CORCORAN: I'm good. TLUMACKI: Oh, I'm going to give you the biggest hug. Oh my gosh, so nice to see you.

S. CORCORAN: So nice to see you too.

TLUMACKI: I got a little present for you.

S. CORCORAN: Oh my god.

TLUMACKI: I was nervous. I didn't know if there would be a positive greeting to me or they didn't - whether Sydney really wanted to see me, but I felt guilty for the longest time. For several weeks I just felt like maybe I took something away from her.

I'm so sorry I had to take pictures of the marathon, but I hope you understand.

C. CORCORAN: People were helping her. If people weren't helping her, that would be a different -

TLUMACKI: If people weren't helping her, I would've been the first person who ripped my shirt off and do whatever I could.

I think it served a purpose that the world had to see.

S. CORCORAN: Absolutely, absolutely.

TLUMACKI: And I really appreciate you let me share that picture.

I don't know how you guys manage to be so strong the way you are. It's so inspirational.

Just seeing you guys, just being here, is just the best day of my life.

KAYE: The very next day, Tlumacki photographed Sydney going home.

TLUMACKI: As the car drove off, she sticks her arms up through the sun roof like oh my god, look at her, there she goes. That was just priceless. Just seeing her smiling like that, to see that that's the same girl two weeks before that was laying in a pool of blood and almost died. I mean, I loved that photo.

It just says anything is possible. This is the ultimate victory for her.

ANNOUNCER: Sydney Corcoran.

(CHEERING)

KAYE: Two months after the bombing, Sydney graduated from high school.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.

C. CORCORAN: OK, that's fine. KAYE: In June, Celeste got her first pair of prosthetic legs.

UNDIENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm going to bring you back a little bit, try that.

C. CORCORAN: I am in.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are?

C. CORCORAN: God, like everything hurts today.

I had really good legs. I really did, if I do say so myself. I miss my legs.

K. CORCORAN: My heart goes to her. I feel so bad for her. I know she's going to be up and about in the future and there are plenty of people that lead active lives, but I just feel so bad for her.

UNIDNETIFIED FEMALE: That's it. Over. Push.

Just walk.

C. CORCORAN: Just walk. If only it was that simple.

These legs weigh a ton!

KAYE: Three months after the bombings, Celeste walked into her house for the first time.

UNDIENTIFIED MALE: You want me to step up with you?

C. CORCORAN: Yep. One, two three, go.

K. CORCORAN: I might not have vacuumed this room. I didn't think you were coming in this way.

C. CORCORAN: That doesn't surprise me.

K. CORCORAN: Welcome home.

KAYE: By January, she posted a video on Facebook of her running.

C. CORCORAN: Woohoo! It's regaining the normalcy of things.

They can't win. They can't start taking pieces of my life that I cherish.

KAYE: For Dr. Natalie Stavas, the tragedy gave her a new purpose in life.

STAVAS: After the bombing, I didn't know what was going to happen with my life. I was spiraling for a while, almost out of control. I still have nightmares about racing after that scene and trying my best but just still not being able to save people. Maybe because I couldn't or because I didn't, it's driven me to this new purpose and this new passion that I have. I joined a fantastic organization called Soul Train which takes inner city kids and shows them that, through running, they can succeed at anything in life.

(CHEERING)

ANNOUNCER: Look at this team, holding hand in hand. Nicely done, everybody.

STAVAS: Awesome job. Yay, good job.

I think the greatest gift that I got was when a really tough kid came up to me, a kid that I run with who's been in trouble with the law, he came up to me and he said, "Dr. Natalie, I want to be a doctor, just like you."

KAYE: Bill Ifrig is about to turn 80 and says nothing will keep him from running.

IFRIG: I've been running for close to 40 years now. No, I'm not going to quit doing anything.

Now it's just getting ready for the next race.

KAYE: Jeff Bauman is walking, engaged, and has a baby on the way.

BAUMAN: I've overcome all my main hurdles, and now it's just all about healing and getting to that point of 100 percent.

My legs are still really, really sensitive. My nerves are always shooting off and it's just - it's very different from the past 27 years of my life to now. It's just totally different.

KAYE: He wrote a book about his experience called "Stronger."

BAUMAN: What I've been through is crazy. This random act makes a lot of people feel unsafe. And since I'm OK and I kind of like show people I'm fine and that I'm not going to let this hold me down, people are like, all right, then we're not going to let it hold us down either.

KAYE: Jeff Bauman and Carlos Arredondo are now close friends. Together, they watched as their home team went from underdog to winning the World Series.

ARRENDONDO: This is a moment where we was healing together and participating the whole community. It was very beautiful and very Boston Strong, yeah?

KAYE: It was the city's finest hour. The Red Sox had given new meaning to Boston Strong, and a new iconic image of champions, of heroes, of a city that emerged victorius.