The marathon bombings left Wayne Gilchrist with physical injuries and mental trauma — but he says the tragedy is giving him a new chance in life.
Tomorrow, after years of homelessness, he moves to permanent housing, thanks to Boston officials he met after the lethal blasts.
“I’m very happy about that,” Gilchrist, 58, said.
But he’s worried he won’t get the psychological counseling to cope with what he saw on Marathon Monday.
“I’ve asked, and asked, and asked,” he said.
Gilchrist had been part of the city’s anonymous homeless population off and on for 18 years, when on April 15 the indiscriminate blasts that devastated families, young couples and students turned him into “bombing victim 271.” He was on Boylston Street, 50 feet away from the first bomb when it went off.
“Nobody should have to see what I’ve seen,” Gilchrist said. “That’s only in war where you see something like that. To see it on the American streets, it’s horrifying.”
Medical records show Gilchrist cracked his head, fractured his left wrist, sprained his right one, and lost 25 percent of his hearing in the first blast.
“My head is still killing me. The doctors say it’s because of the stress, and I can’t get help,” he said.
“We gave those guys everything,” Gilchrist said about accused bombers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. “Schooling, housing, food stamps, money, and they come and blow us up. Something’s wrong with that picture.”
Gilchrist joined the Army after graduating from Somerville Trade High School, but said he was discharged due to his epilepsy. These days, he lives under a bridge, trading in used cans to supplement his $800-a-month disability pay. He’s had some brushes with the law, too.
As he prepares to move into housing, he hopes The One Fund, set up to compensate bombing victims for physical injuries, will give him the means to pay for counseling.
“He’s as eligible as anyone,” said Camille Biros, the fund’s deputy administrator. “He just needs to provide the necessary paperwork.”
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