By Nina Godlewski & Sara Shaker, News Staff
On Tuesday night Northeastern’s Council for University Programming hosted “Beyond the Finish Line: A Conversation with Jeff Bauman.” Photographed in one of the tragedy’s most iconic images, Bauman became a public figure overnight. He joined Northeastern students to tell his inspiring story of surviving the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings.
Students chatted as they filed into Blackman Auditorium, but the hum of conversation ended when the applause started and Bauman walked on stage.
“I wasn’t sure what to expect coming in, but I’m really glad I came. He’s an amazing person,” middler journalism major Jeremy Leopold said.
Bauman described the scene on Boylston Street that beautiful April day as hectic and crowded. He was standing at the finish line waiting for his girlfriend, Erin, to cross when a man with a backpack walked into him hard enough to get his attention. “Everyone was watching the runners and he was just trying to get through the crowd. He seemed out of place to me,” Bauman said.
Before he could give the man, or the backpack, much thought, there was a flash and he was knocked to the ground. He recalls that his first thought was, “Why are people shooting off fireworks?” His confusion mirrored that of the spectators and participants around him.
Soon he realized these were not fireworks. He looked down to seewhat used to be his legs and saw that“there was nothing there; they were ripped to pieces.”
Bauman explained that he had quickly come to terms with what would surely be his imminent death; he even tried finding his cell phone to call his mom. Seconds after, Carlos Arredondo rushed to the scene.
“This crazy guy with a cowboy hat came running up and he was yelling at me and hitting me and saying, ‘you’re gonna make it brother’ and I was like, ‘alright, let’s do this,’” Bauman recalls.
Arredondo picked him up and put him in a nearby wheelchair, moments before the well-known photo from that fateful day was snapped by photographer Charles Krupa.
Later in the evening,when a student asked him who one of his heroes was, Bauman said, “Carlos, the guy who saved my life, is one of my biggest heroes. I think about him all the time. The way he risked his life. When that bomb went off, I was trying to get away. He was running towards it. He has to help people, that’s the way he is.”
The bombings are impossible to rationalize, or understand, especially for Bauman.
“I don’t even think about this – what they did to me – I think about Martin, the 7-year-old [who died], and I think, ‘How could someone do that?’” Bauman said.
Despite the physically and psychologically traumatizing effects of the event, Bauman remains optimistic. In his recent novel, “Stronger,” published just shy of the one year anniversary of the bombings, Bauman said “I saw the bomber. He took my legs, but he didn’t break me. He only made me stronger.”
Besides being optimistic, Bauman still keeps his sense of humor. When asked about the famous photo of him, he jokingly said, “I wasn’t looking my best in that photo…I have my color back.”
After recounting the events of that day, the Q & A portion of the night began. Bauman opened the floor for Northeastern students to ask various questions, anything from his experience being an amputee to fantasy football. A student asked how his experience changed his outlook on life, and he said, “I have great friends and great people around me. I just try not to change [who I am].”
Bauman’s continued optimism throughout his struggles caused students to change their attitude.
“It’s just given a lot of perspective,” junior communication studies major Carolyn Cornell said. “Obviously, he was a normal guy, and then this happened and his whole life changed.”
One question on everyone’s mind was whether Bauman had been back to the finish line since the bombings. “I haven’t been back to the exact spot, but I went to the Marathon this year, and I was across the street,” Bauman said.
It was his first time returning since the incident, and although it was tough, he managed. The bombings did not take away Bauman’s love for Boston.“Boston’s my favorite city, it’s the best city in the world,” Bauman said.
Students admired Bauman’s dedication to continuing his life as normal. “Life goes on,” middler communication studies major Candace Gable said. “He’s still living his life and that’s good. It doesn’t really hold him back too much.”
Bauman’s first goal after losing his legs was to be able to walk again. Now that he has accomplished that, he’s onto bigger goals, such as his newborn baby daughter. “When she’s two years old, I want to be able to chase her around,” he said.
Photo by Christina Reynolds.
