Teen who lost legs met Boston Marathon bombing survivor by chance at Florida hospital
It’s been a tough couple of months for Alexis Gould, 18, who was in a horrific car crash Sept. 27, and has been recovering at HCA Florida Blake Hospital in Bradenton.
She has been through 25 surgeries after losing her right leg above the knee and her left leg below the knee following the crash on Interstate 75 near State Road 64 East.
Alexis doesn’t remember much about the crash, but later learned that she had hit a concrete barrier and was thrown from her car. Some thought that her chances of survival were slim.
But she is fighting back from her injuries, thanks to the care she is receiving at Blake, which is a trauma center, and is now looking forward to the future.
Finding unexpected inspiration
Gould received some unexpected encouragement and inspiration from another patient at Blake, also an amputee, who was in a room two doors down from her.
“I saw that she had a prosthetic leg and I wanted to talk to her. She is somebody like me,” Gould said.
The other patient turned out to be Rebekah Gregory, 35, who was at the Boston Marathon with her then-5-year-old son, Noah, on April 15, 2013, when terrorists exploded two homemade pressure cooker bombs.
Gregory had moved closer to the finish line to watch the runners when a bomb went off three feet away. The blast shredded her legs, but her body also shielded Noah, who received only a few scratches.
“I had thousands of pieces of shrapnel in my body,” she said.
“In addition to the evil I saw that day, I also saw the blessings of people rushing in to help,” said Gregory, who was in Boston for her birthday week.
‘You will be unstoppable’
A year and a half after the attack, doctors had to remove her most damaged leg, one of about 75 surgeries she has had since 2013.
As Gregory was going into surgery, a nurse ask if she was scared.
When she replied that, yes, she was scared, the nurse squeezed her hand.
“On the other side of that fear you will be unstoppable,” the nurse said.
So unstoppable, it turns out, that after Gregory recovered from her injuries, she established a nonprofit, Rebekah’s Angels, to provide mental health treatment to children and families suffering from trauma.
“Rebekah’s Angels not only provides mental health treatment to those who are suffering, but we also give parents and caregivers the tools they need to effectively parent through the hardest chapters of life,” the nonprofit website says.
Gregory also wrote a book, “Taking My Life Back,” in which she details the attack, and her fight back from pain to find her purpose.
Opening a new door
When Alexis spotted Rebekah Gregory in the hallway at Blake, she couldn’t have found a better person to talk to about phantom pain and making a comeback from devastating injuries.
In part due to the encouragement she received from Gregory, Gould hopes she will eventually be able to visit schools and talk to students about her accident and injures, and getting on with life.
“It opened up a door that I didn’t know existed,” Alexis said.
Thursday afternoon as Gregory was preparing to check out of Blake, she went to Gould’s room and the two women said their goodbyes.
“You are amazing,” Gregory told Gould.
“You are, too,” Gould responded.
The two women agreed that it’s a miracle to be alive, and both said they feel fortunate.
“Everything she has said has helped. I have someone to relate to. You aren’t invincible. When an accident happens, you can build a new life,” Gould said.
“The future is going to be OK. This isn’t the end. This is a new beginning,” she said.
Gould’s immediate goal is to be home for her birthday on Dec. 17, and Christmas less than a week later.
Gregory now makes her home in Bradenton and was at Blake for revision surgery, a type of follow-up surgery after an amputation.
“It was totally meant to be,” Gregory said of meeting Gould.
“It brings back memories to me of what I went through. Don’t ever let this defeat you,” Gregory said.
Her advice: understand how short life is and embrace all those moments.
This story was originally published November 10, 2022 at 5:03 PM.
