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This Article is From Feb 02, 2017

Fireman Saved Boston Marathon Bombing Victim. Now They're Getting Married

Fireman Saved Boston Marathon Bombing Victim. Now They're Getting Married
Roseann Sdoia (left) is among the victims of Boston Marathon bombing.
On April 15, 2013, Roseann Sdoia was near the Boston Marathon finish line, watching the runners.

She heard the first bomb go off, Runner's World reported. She would later tell Fox Sports that as the plume of smoke drifted up, she thought that it was all pretty weird, since the best runners had finished the marathon long go.

"There was a guy to the right of me who started yelling, 'Everybody, get in the streets, get in the streets,'" Sdoia told Fox Sports. "But the barricade they had between the street and the runners was too high, and I was not going to be able to get over it. So I turned to my right to run away, and I basically ran into the bag that had the second bomb in it. And I just recall the pop-pop at my feet and then it going black and thinking to myself, 'This is not a good situation. This is bad.' "

Sdoia is among the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing, which killed three and left more than 200 injured. She was rushed to a hospital that April day. Her right leg would eventually be amputated above the knee, but she would survive - in part thanks to a group of people who helped in the chaotic aftermath of the bombing.

Runner's World profiled that group in 2014. There was Shores Salter, a college student who rushed to Sdoia at the scene. Shana Cottone, a police officer, helped too. And there was Mike Materia, a Boston firefighter. Materia held Sdoia's hand on the way to the hospital, Runner's World reported. He was there for her during her recovery, too.

And this past December, the New York Post reported, he proposed to her.

"In the hospital, my mom tried to set me up with him," Sdoia told the newspaper. "She was like, 'Oh, did you see that firefighter? He's so cute.' And I was like, 'Mom, I just got blown up.' "

The New York Post reports that Sdoia and Materia began dating in June 2013, months after the bombing. According to the newspaper, he proposed in December. WCVB-TV, a station in Boston, also reported on the engagement.

"I was probably not the nicest to him from the get-go. I was in pain. But now we laugh and blame it on the morphine," Sdoia told the newspaper. "He's seen me on my worst day."

The couple plan to wed in the fall, according to the New York Post.

"He is my support system and he's definitely there with me every step of the way," Sdoia told WBUR in 2014. "We both rely on each other since he was there that day."

Sdoia did not immediately return a Facebook message seeking comment on Wednesday.

Runner's World reported that after the bombing, Sdoia and Materia - as well as Salter and Cottone, the student and police officer who were involved with the rescue - were working on a book together, which is expected to be released later this year.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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