Boston Marathon bomb victim tells harrowing story

Melanie Eversley, USA TODAY | USATODAY

A victim of the Boston Marathon bombing says that he can't stand to be alone since the tragedy, which left him with burns, nails and even pieces of his jeans throughout his body, and left three of his friends without limbs.

During the day, there are enough doctors, nurses, family and friends around that it's possible to stay upbeat, Jarrod Clowery, 35, a carpenter from Stoneham, Mass., told reportersTuesday at Brigham and Women's Hospital, where he is being treated for injuries suffered in the April 15 blasts. At night, it's a different story, Clowery said.

"When I'm alone, I do think about what happened, and I think for a while, I'm going to need somebody with me — my sister stayed with me last night — so if I need to air it out, I can air it out," Clowery said. "I've had a few cries."

Clowery is one of more than 260 people injured in the bombing that killed three. Clowery's surgeon, Robert Riviello, said his patient suffered deep second-degree burns over 10% of his body, including to his wrists, the back of his thighs, buttocks and other parts of the lower body.

Riviello said Clowery arrived at the emergency room with 40 metal objects and other pieces of debris in his body, including 4-millimeter carpenter nails, ball bearings, pieces of his denim jeans, plastic, glass and wood, probably from a tree. Surgery has removed some of the objects and others are working their way to the surface, but Clowery's condition is painful, Riviello said.

He said Clowery should recover fully in several months.

"That's going to be on you," Riviello said to his patient. "It's going to be a lot of work."

Clowery, his voice breaking, said Riviello and the others who have tended to him have been tremendous support.

He walked reporters through the harrowing details of what happened on that sunny day as he stood watching the marathon with friends.

After the first blast, Clowery said, he was about to hop the fence into the street when the second bomb went off 3 feet away.

"I just remember feeling engulfed, and I got thrown out into the street," he said. "Just like all the movies, all the sound got taken away. Something inside me said, 'Get up, Jarrod. You're OK. Just get up.' I was OK. I was pretty lucid. I remember trying to count my fingers and feel my feet and thinking about these kinds of things."

Clowery said his thoughts repeatedly return to those moments.

"I looked at my hand and it was too much to look at, so I tuck it in, and I look at my legs and I didn't want to look at those anymore," he said.

Clowery credited two first responders with helping him keep it together mentally. News photos show him sitting on the ground, clearly distraught, as two emergency responders try to calm him. One of them was named Jeff, Clowery said.

"He looks at me and says, 'You're going to be OK,' " Clowery recalled. "He said, 'Jarrod, believe me when I tell you, there's worse out here than you.' I said, 'Oh my God, my friends are all dead.' Those two there," Clowery said, pointing to the photo, "they managed to sit me down and managed to get me in the ambulance."

Clowery said he was in awe at how smoothly the doctors and nurses at the hospital worked in the midst of chaos.

That night, Clowery had his first surgery to remove some of the foreign objects, Riviello said.

"I think general anesthesia was Jarrod's first moment of some comfort," the surgeon said.

Starting Wednesday, the carpenter will spend about two weeks at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, then go home. A crowdfunding campaign at GoFundMe.com has been set up to help pay his medical bills.

After rehabilitation, Clowery said, he'll try to help his friends who lost limbs with their return home.

"My friends are strong guys, tough as nails, and they know that we're going to come out of this better," Clowery said.

And he will bounce back, he said.

"I'm not scared to go back," Clowery said of the marathon and large crowds outdoors. "I'm not scared of crowds. I think that's part of Boston and Boston Strong. I don't know what I'm going to do the next Boston Marathon. Maybe me and the same group of guys are going to go right back down there. I don't know.

"I've got a whole year to think about it."