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‘A dozen years’: Marathon bombings survivor who lost foot marks anniversary of attack

“No matter how many years it’s been, I still can’t believe it’s real," Adrianne Haslet said.

Boston Marathon bombing survivor Adrianne Haslet, right, reacts as she is introduced in the para division with Shalane Flanagan, left, as her support runner at the starting line of the 2022 Boston Marathon.

By Dialynn Dwyer

April 15, 2025

1 minute to read

Adrianne Haslet, who lost her leg in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, marked the anniversary of the attack at the finish line with a message on Tuesday expressing gratitude for the outpouring of support she’s received in the last 12 years.

Haslet, a ballroom dancer, was standing next to the second of the two pressure-cooker bombs that exploded on April 15, 2013, killing three people and injuring nearly 300 others. She was one of 17 people who lost limbs in the attack.

In the years since, Haslet has become a running enthusiast, running the 2016 marathon with the help of a prosthetic blade and competing in the 26.2-mile-long race again in 2022 in the para athletics division. She finished third in the women’s Lower Limb Impairment T61-64 division.

On Tuesday, Haslet shared photos of her feet and legs before and just after the bombing.

“Twelve years, and though I’ve come so far, not a day goes by that I don’t miss you,” Haslet wrote. “I remember snapping this photo after doctors told me I needed to call my parents and say goodbye. That I’d lost too much blood, I’d lost my ankle and half my calf, that my toes were barely hanging on. It was the phone call that changed our family’s lives forever.

“No matter how many years it’s been, I still can’t believe it’s real,” she added.

Haslet said she still has chills when she thinks about how close she was to the perpetrators of the bombing that day and that she still sometimes struggles with a fear of being around strangers.

But she addressed her followers on Instagram, saying the community has helped her in the years since by providing unwavering love, encouragement, and support to keep her moving forward.

“There are 26.2 miles in a marathon, and 26 letters in the alphabet,” Haslet wrote. “Yet there is no arrangement of the 26 letters we all have to choose from that can adequately express my gratitude for your love and support.

“A dozen years,” she added. “We did it, Boston.”