The afternoon of April 15, 2013 was perfect for a run or a romantic walk through the park. Boston newlyweds Jessica Kensky and Patrick Downes were enjoying the latter when they found themselves on Boylston Street, near the finish line of the city’s 117th annual Marathon.
The couple made the fateful decision to stop and cheer for the runners.
At 2:49 P.M. two bombs detonated 12 seconds and 210 yards apart, claiming three lives and injuring more than 260 runners and onlookers. Kensky and Downes each lost the lower part of their left leg, and Kensky eventually made the agonizing decision to have her damaged right leg amputated.
Five years later, just in time for the 2018 Marathon, the couple have released a book chronicling their lives since the bombings. Instead of a harrowing non-fiction memoir, Kensky and Downes opted to pen a children’s book focused on Jessica’s beloved service dog, Rescue, and the many ways he has changed their lives for the better.
At the end of the book, Jessica tells Rescue that he rescued her. Kensky explained this sentiment to Boston.com:
“He rescued us by pulling us out of some of the darkest, most depressing, hopeless moments of our life again and again by doing something goofy or by just his needing to be taken care of and fed and exercised. [It] gave both of us something to focus on, on days when it would have been much easier to just stay in bed.”
Purchase your copy of Rescue & Jessica: A Life-Changing Friendship here.
H/T to People.com & Boston.com
Featured Image via Facebook/Patrick & Jess Run Again
via Whisker Therapy