Haitian-American Bombing Victim Remains Hospitalized At MGH

BOSTON — Most of the hundreds injured in the Boston Marathon bombings have been released from Boston hospitals, but a handful remain.

One, a 31-year-old Mary Daniel, originally from Haiti who now lives in Mattapan, remains at Massachusetts General Hospital. On marathon day, she made a last-minute decision to head down to be with the crowds at the finish line.

“On marathon day she was in the house,” Jean-Louis Daniel, Mary’s father-in-law, recalled. “She’d heard about the marathon because she was watching TV and she asked her husband to drop her over there to watch.”

Hours later came the phone call from Mass General.

“When we got there they explained to us how she was. At that time she couldn’t speak, she couldn’t speak.”

Mary’s father-in-law says the family was told her heart had stopped and doctors had to manually massage it to get it beating again, but that wasn’t all.

“She lost the left leg,” he said. “The other one was very bad until they put a skin graft. She can talk now, she understands she is alive, and we say thanks to God.”

Mary Daniel is married to Richardson Daniel, Jean-Louis’ youngest son. He says she and her husband have both completed medical school and Richardson was a general practitioner in Haiti. Both have been in the process of preparing for the medical boards here in the U.S.

Mary and Richardson are have one child, 5-year-old Ciara. Jean-Louis says his granddaughter somehow saw video footage of her mother being taken to the hospital and had stopped eating.

“Last Sunday, her father went with her to see mom, because she says, ‘I want to see my mom, I want to go with you,’ ” Jean-Louis said. “She knows that and she understands.”

It’s unclear when Mary will be ready to go home. After the hospital, there will be rehab, then the family will have to face the logistics of living in a second floor apartment.