Trending

Boston Marathon bombing survivor to marry firefighter who saved her

Adriana Passacantilli, 7, and her mother Sue participate in a candelight vigil for Roseann Sdoia who was seriously injured during the Boston Marathon bombings on April 21, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts. 

NEW YORK — A Boston Marathon bombing survivor who had part of her leg amputated after the blast is now engaged to the firefighter who saved her life.

In April 2013, Roseann Sdoia, 48, was cheering on runners at the finish line of the Boston Marathon when a bomb exploded near her. Her mother was comforting her later in the hospital when a firefighter caught her eye.

"She was like, 'Oh, did you see that firefighter? He's so cute.' And I was like, 'Mom, I just got blown up,'" Sdoia said, according to Fox News.

The firefighter, Mike Materia, stayed at Sdoia's side to comfort her after she was injured.

“I asked him if I was going to die. And he told me that I was going to be OK,” Sdoia said.

Materia, 37, also stayed by her side during the ambulance ride to the hospital and held her hand the whole way there.

"I was probably not the nicest to him from the get-go. I was in pain. But now we laugh and blame it on the morphine," Sdoia said, according to the New York Post. "He's seen me on my worst day."

The pair started dating in June 2013, and last month, Materia proposed to Sdoia on Nantucket Island. They plan to wed in October or November, the Post reported.

“I do feel that, in a sense, some things happen for a reason,” Sdoia said.

The couple plans to release a book called “Perfect Strangers” about how their lives intersected as a result of the bombing.

Materia and Sdoia will participate in the Empire State Building Run-Up, which will raise funds for the Challenged Athletes Foundation, in March.

 
Posted by Roseann Sdoia on Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Challenged Athletes Foundation runner Roseann Sdoia brings quite an inspirational story to this year's ESB Run-Up...

Posted by Empire State Building on Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Brianna Chambers contributed to this report.