Transit Officer Wounded In Marathon Manhunt Recovers, Looks To Future

The MBTA police officer wounded in the Watertown firefight with the Boston Marathon bombing suspects is recovering at Boston's Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital.

Sitting in the hospital’s sun-drenched gym — wearing khaki shorts and a dark blue Transit Police shirt — Richard "Dic" Donohue described the damage done when a bullet ripped through his thigh, severing his femoral artery and vein.

"We haven’t had a week of him not being able to wiggle his toes or give a thumbs up... we're able to see the light at the end of the tunnel."

Kim Donohue

"I have a scar that’s about eight to 10 inches long on my right groin, two scars on my left groin and probably another 10 inches on my belly, and then two small ones on each side of my right calf. And I still have a bullet lodged near my right hip," he said.

Donahue arrived at Spaulding on Thursday after a month's stay at Mt. Auburn Hospital.

When the 33-year-old tries to recall what happened in Watertown that night, the only memory he can muster is showing up at work.

"I don’t remember the firefight. I don’t remember being at Sean Collier’s scene. I don’t remember anything clearly at all," he said.

But Donohue's wife Kim will never forget an officer showing up at her door with the news that her husband was injured, and the first hours at the hospital.

"I remember not understanding the severity of the incident that had happened," she said, adding, "thinking that he was in the operating room and that he was going to be wheeled out, and I was going to be having a conversation with him asking him what happened. Not understanding that he was going to be in a cooling treatment — which is similar to almost being in a coma — for a few days."

He husband's bullet wounds drained his body of blood. Donohue's heart actually stopped, but doctors brought him back after 45 minutes.

Now the young couple just wants to focus on the present and the future.

"We haven’t had a week of him not being able to wiggle his toes or give a thumbs up, and I think that's been great because we're able to see the future with him and we’re able to see the light at the end of the tunnel," Kim Donohue said.

But Officer Donahue still has a long way to go before he's fully recovered.

His first goal is to be able to walk again with out pain. And he said he can't wait to play with his infant child.