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In This Issue:
Audrey and Gillian Reny
For Christian Sampson, MD, the sight of a smiling Gillian Reny walking down a BWH hallway this week represents courage, resilience and positivity-three traits he says characterize his young patient.
Reny, a Boston Marathon bombing survivor, received life-saving care at BWH last year after the blasts.
"Gillian's attitude is amazing," said Sampson, of the Division of Plastic Surgery. "She's such a strong person who has come a long way in her recovery. It has been a difficult road, but through it all, she has remained focused on her recovery."
Reny, 19, now a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania, was near the finish line of the marathon last year as she waited with her mother and father for her older sister, Danielle, to finish the race. Sampson and a team of doctors, nurses and others saved her life, and, in the process, both of her legs-a miraculous outcome.
Now, Sampson is joining 12 of Reny's family members, friends and care providers in preparing for a 26.2-mile journey of their own next month in honor of Reny and the Gillian Reny Stepping Strong Fund.
In addition to the Stepping Strong Boston Marathon team, which is part of Team Brigham, the Reny family has put together a 5K team of her classmates, family and friends, who will run two days before the Marathon as an expression of their continued love and support for everything that Stepping Strong stands for.
Launched last month by the Reny family, the Stepping Strong Fund will fuel innovative research and clinical programs in trauma healing and limb reconstruction and help support fellowships and training for plastic surgeons. Reny said she hopes the fund will help people like her. "I feel really good about what we are doing," she said.
Reny's mother, Audrey Epstein Reny, who never left her daughter's side while she was in the hospital, has confidence that the fund will help future patients with traumatic, athletic and disease-related limb injuries regain their strength and step strong once again.
Gillian Reny gets stronger by climbing the stairs at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital.
"We hope this fund will inspire hundreds, maybe thousands, to continue to come together in celebration of the kindness and generosity of spirit that has prevailed since April 15, 2013," she said.
Sister Danielle is running again this year, but this time it's in honor of Reny, whom she calls her greatest gift. "I am running for the community of supporters, survivors, responders, doctors and nurses who saved our family in myriad ways. And I'm running to finally cross that finish line in 2014 with the conviction that there is so much good in this world," she said.
Charles Schumacher, MD, a third-year resident in the Harvard Combined Orthopaedic Program, is looking forward to his first Boston Marathon and raising money for Stepping Strong. He saw Reny in the Emergency Department right after she was injured and applied her first splint before helping to transport her to the operating room.
"Despite the horrible circumstances surrounding that day, I know this fund will help us to better care for patients in the future," Schumacher said. "My participation in the Marathon will serve as a symbol of solidarity with those who were so brave and have taught us so much."
While she's not running the Marathon, Jodi Swenson, RN, of the Emergency Department, plans to be on the route, cheering on her BWH family and the Stepping Strong team.
Swenson took care of Reny and her parents, who also sustained minor injuries from the blasts. "I think the Reny family is amazing," she said. "They have taken something so horrible and turned it around to make something good out of it. I love this family."
To learn more, visit www.BWHSteppingStrong.org.