Boston bombing survivors to Orlando survivors: 'We are family now'
They came bearing smiles and messages of support, not to mention cuddles from a few friendly service dogs.
On Saturday morning, survivors of the June 12 shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, which claimed 49 lives, were visited by a group that has lived through similar tragedy. Ten survivors of the Boston Marathon bombing visited six Orlando survivors at the Orlando Regional Medical Center, the hospital said in an emailed statement.
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Visiting Pulse survivor Angel Colon, Boston survivor Celeste Corcoran shared a message of tolerance. "There's post-traumatic stress and it helps to talk with someone who has been through similar situations," she said, according to the statement. "People who try and spread hate, it does the exact opposite, it brings together strangers and we are more tolerant of people.
"What happened was horrific and should never have happened but in their memory we choose to be nice to someone else, to pay it forward."
Eliza Gedney and Michelle L'Heureux, both Boston survivors, invited Rodney Sumter, who is recovering in the hospital, to run the Boston Marathon with them in 2017.
"I want to be there," he said.
The Orlando Regional Medical Center received 44 patients from the shooting, eight of which are still hospitalized.
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Ariel Bogle was an associate editor with Mashable in Australia covering technology. Previously, Ariel was associate editor at Future Tense in Washington DC, an editorial initiative between Slate and New America.
