Family Of Teen Marathon Victim And UPenn Freshman Starts Fund
BOSTON (AP) — The family of a teenager who almost lost a leg in the Boston Marathon bombings has started a fund to help others at risk of losing limbs.
Gillian Reny was 18 when the bombs exploded near the finish line April 15 where she and her parents waited for her sister to finish.
Doctors at Brigham and Women's Hospital weren't sure they could save her mangled right leg.
Now a 19-year-old freshman at the University of Pennsylvania, Gillian can walk on her own.
Her parents started the Gillian Reny Stepping Strong Fund with an undisclosed sum and have formed a team for this year's marathon to raise more.
The goal is $3 million to fund research into limb regeneration and transplantation and the use of stem cells to regrow bones and skin.
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