STRONG

Lake County surgeon John Cowin was a spectator at the Boston Marathon when tragedy struck, but he quickly became a shining light during moments of profound darkness and despair.

Thousands of spectators lined the streets, shouting words of encouragement and motivation to the Boston Marathon participants. Their loud cheers helped propel competitors to the finish line. Then, without warning, lives were forever changed. Boom!

Ten seconds elapsed. Boom!

The festive atmosphere quickly transformed into Boston’s darkest day. These weren’t congratulatory explosions; they were acts of terror carried out by a couple of callous individuals. Death, mayhem, and chaos spread like wildfire. As smoke rose in the air, the event became a terrifying scene of severed limbs and shattered glass. A mother cried out in agony as she clung to the body of her lifeless 8-year-old boy. The sounds of screams filled the air as people ran in all directions, trying to flee the gruesome scene. Paramedics loaded countless blood-soaked bodies into ambulances.

But on this day of pain and heartache, horror gave way to hope thanks to the bravery of a Lake County surgeon. Unconcerned about his own safety, Dr. John Cowin rushed toward the rising cloud of smoke and helped treat several injured spectators.

Forty-five minutes after the second explosion, Dr. Cowin sat covered in blood. Assuming he was injured, a Boston firefighter approached him and asked if he needed an ambulance. But he was fine; there was others needing assistance.

A heroic first responder

Dr. Cowin, an orthopedic surgeon with Florida Musculoskeletal Institute, and his wife, Anna, a former state senator, attended the Boston Marathon to support their 38-yearold daughter, Lynda Nijensohn. A breast cancer survivor, Lynda competed in the event as part of the Dana Farber Marathon Challenge team to raise money for cancer research. She has run in the marathon for three consecutive years and raised $68,000.

“Lynda was in the last group of runners, which includes people in wheelchairs, other cancer survivors, handicapped runners, and blind racers with guides,” Dr. Cowin says. “It is really inspirational to watch them compete.”

But their personal triumphs would be overshadowed when two bombs exploded within seconds of each other, ultimately killing three people and injuring more than 140. Dr. Cowin and his wife were directly across the street from where the second bomb detonated. His instincts as a physician and his character as a human being kicked in as he pushed down a barrier so he could cross the street and help treat the wounded.

He first tended to a man whose leg had been blown off at the mid-thigh. Dr. Cowin helped wrap a tourniquet around the man’s leg to control the bleeding. “At this point I did not think this could be real,” he said. “I spent three years in the Air Force, and it reminded me of the emergency medical drills we used to perform. I was trying to help people who were injured the worst.”

Once the man’s bleeding was under control, he came to the assistance of another man whose foot had been blown off. Dr. Cowin took off his belt and wrapped it around the man’s wound. Lying next to the man was his 3-year-old son who suffered from shrapnel injuries to his head, the same bloodied child who was featured on a recent cover of Time magazine.

“I picked the child up and checked him over thoroughly,” he says. “Four days later, I received a phone call from the man’s sister-in-law thanking me for what I did and informing me that they have my belt.”

What Dr. Cowin witnessed next was a heartbreaking moment that will forever be etched in his memory. Denise Martin of Massachusetts was lying on the ground crying hysterically and hugging her 8-year-old son, Richard, who was tragically killed.

“The paramedics were getting ready to cover his body, and his mother looked at them and said, ‘Please let me just spend one more minute with him.’ The mother suffered a brain injury, but all she could think about was her son. It was very difficult to see something like that.”

He also attempted to help Lingzi Lu, a 23-year-old Chinese woman who was attending graduate school at Boston University. She had vomited, so Dr. Cowin attempted to clear her airway while paramedics used an Ambu bag — a squeezable bag with a face mask — to help her breathe.

“Unfortunately, she suffered devastating injuries, and I knew she was not going to make it,” he says in a somber voice. “However, her friend suffered from shrapnel into the abdomen, and people were using tablecloths from the restaurant where they were eating to help bandage her wound. I also laid her down, so she would not go into shock. She ended up living.”

Where is everyone?

Meanwhile, Dr. Cowin’s daughter, Lynda, had completed 25.5 miles when she learned that the race had been cancelled. After hearing about the bombings, she became increasingly worried. She knew her parents were waiting at the finish line, which is also where her husband, Zev, and children, Mariana, 7, and Jed, 5, were. They had planned to cross the finish line together holding hands.

With her cellphone battery dead, Lynda felt scared and alone. She walked to a nearby tent where medical personnel were passing out plastic garbage bags to keep runners warm. Four blocks ahead, she spotted a group of runners, but she was afraid if she walked there, Zev would have a difficult time finding her in a large crowd.

“I had a tremendous amount of guilt for bringing my family into harm’s way,” says Lynda, who resides in Wayland, Massachusetts. “There were three women who tried to calm me, offering me their phones and comforts. I tried texting and calling my mom and Zev. I could not get through. Two of the women tried repeatedly to send my texts.”

In recent years, Lynda has undergone seven surgeries, four months of chemotherapy, and six weeks of radiation. However, not knowing her family’s whereabouts or their conditions was every bit as nerve-racking as battling cancer.

“My mom always told me when I was a kid that if I ever got lost to go to the last place where we were together and stay put. So, this is what I did. Then, one of the women whose phone I had originally used came running toward me. She said that she had just heard from my mom and that the kids and Zev were safe. This was 45 minutes after the bombs went off. The stress of not knowing whether they were injured was over.”

Zev found Lynda three hours after the blasts, and the entire family reunited later that evening at the Marriot Hotel. She was not surprised to hear about the heroic efforts of her father. “I remember hearing a story about him saving a family from a burning car when he was completing his residency,” she says. “My dad has always been someone who rises to the occasion during bad situations. If not for people like him, I think there would have been more deaths at the Boston Marathon because people would have likely bled to death.”

Aftermath

Seeing the tragic events unfold up close and personal had a profound effect on Dr. Cowin. When he returned to Florida, he decided to share his story on Facebook, an online social network that he seldom uses.

“I felt like a big burden was taken off my shoulders when I did that,” he says. “The next morning I had about 220 friend requests, and I even heard from high school classmates whom I haven’t talked to in 50 years. I also received calls from the Orlando Sentinel and Boston Globe.”

While his efforts have helped him receive national attention, Dr. Cowin has not allowed the publicity to go to his head. As a matter of fact, he would tell anyone who asks that he is not a hero.

“When you are in certain professions, such as healthcare or law enforcement, you learn to react to situations,” he says. “I reacted to the situation in Boston. That is who I am and what I do. I had a great deal of sympathy for all those people who were lying on the street and sidewalks in agonizing pain.”

However, rest assured, Dr. Cowin would never have any sympathy for the terrorists who masterminded the vicious attack.

“My daughter, as well as other runners, was in the Boston Marathon trying to raise money for charity and these whackos are trying to kill them. That is horrible,” he says. “Our ancestors came to this country to work hard, make an honest living, and fulfill their dreams. These guys come to this country and are educated here and then turn around and blow us up. I will never understand that.”

One thing he certainly understands, though, is that Americans should never allow themselves to be bullied by terror.

“I think there will be twice as many runners at next year’s Boston Marathon just to show terrorists that they are not going to scare us.”

To view more photos and read a poem written by Dr. Cowin’s daughter about why she will run again in next year’s marathon, please visit the Healthy Living online magazine at www.lakehealthyliving.com.