I had never met Alan Hern face-to-face. I had just heard very much about him. All was positive, even before helping to rescue his son and daughter near the finish line at the Boston Marathon bombings a year ago today.
A Christmas photo with new born Caroline Jane
along with Aaron and Abigail.
Photo courtesy of Hern Family
On a hot August afternoon, I spent an hour talking to him in the bleachers while his
Alhambra (Martinez, Calif.) football team finished up practice just a week before its 2013 season.
It couldn't be easy to relive the horror of that afternoon. But he did forcefully, with barely a ripple, for a story that originally ran on Sept. 17.
Click here to see it or read below.
Since the story ran, Alan's wife Katherine gave birth to the couple's third child, Caroline Jane, in November, Aaron has continued his robust year-round athletic career and was Alhambra's ball boy in the fall. The entire family is back in Boston this week for marathon festivities, and according to Alhambra athletic director Pat Ertola, Alan and Katherine are scheduled to run in the April 21st marathon.
Katherine was one of 5,633 runners who last year was not able to finish the race because of the bombings. Katherine, according to Ertola, is determined to finish what she started. And this year Alan wants to be there every step of the way.
"It's an amazing, resilient and strong family," Ertola said. "Nothing will keep them down."
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ALHAMBRA FOOTBALL COACH Alan Hern comes from a strong military background. He
was a lieutenant in the Navy and served in active duty from 1993-98 and
was deployed to the Persian Gulf. He was awarded the Navy and Marine
Corps Achievement Medal for superior performance.
The
fit and trim 41-year-old has used that training 11 seasons as coach —
the last three-plus as the Bulldogs' head coach — to prepare his players
through tough and stressful times. He's drawn from specific military
drills like being dumped from a helicopter into the ocean, swimming a
mile in street clothes and navigating through a room filled with tear
gas without a mask.
From L-R the Hern family: Aaron, Alan, Abigail
and Katherine.
Photo courtesy of Hern family
"Getting through experiences like those
helps you with any tough situation in life," he said. "It gives you
confidence that you can handle anything and it wipes out any negative
thoughts during those tough times when things get scary
"That's a big reason why I coach football."
But Hern said he's coaching a little different in the early stages of the 2013 season and for pretty obvious reasons.
He
and his family — 12-year-old son Aaron, 10-year-old daughter Abigail
and wife Katherine — were all victims of the April 15th Boston Marathon
bombings.
Miraculously all four escaped largely unscathed,
though Aaron, an Alhambra ball boy, sustained a pierced eardrum, a deep
wound to his left leg that required 86 staples and confinement to a
wheelchair for five weeks.
He, his father and Abigail were all
within 20 feet of the second explosion, while Katherine was on the
course, a quarter mile from the finish. The family was cheering her home
before the two pressure-cooker bombs exploded releasing shrapnel that
included bits of metal, nails and bearing balls. The lid of one of the
pressure cookers was found on a nearby rooftop.
Their harrowing
story of survival from one of the nation's most brutal terrorist attacks
that killed three and injured 264 others has been told many times by
the national and international media.
They've met the first
lady Michelle Obama, been guests of the White House and virtually all of
the Bay Area professional sporting teams, and Aaron has hit the ground
running — and poolside swimming — to what looks to be a very promising
athletic/endurance career.
Still, the emotional scars from living through a virtual war zone is difficult to measure.
"There's
a lot of good things that happened through all of this and a lot of bad
things," Alan Hern said. "It's definitely been a mixed blessing."
Stronger than everWhich
has led to his coaching change for the Bulldogs, who are off to a mixed
1-1-1 start following a 42-0 win at Ygnacio Valley on Friday. The
Bulldogs host
Maria Carrillo (Santa Rosa, Calif.) on Friday.
"Like
always, I'm trying to push them to be good, but I'm trying to be more
human about it," he said at a practice before the season. "Not that I
was ever a tyrant before or a crazy yeller. It's a different sort of
encouragement. It's more like they're my kids and not just my players."
Senior center
Matthew Brady said he's seen a change, but not necessarily a softer side.
"If
anything, he appears stronger to me," Brady said. "He never broke down
when he got back. He got right back at it and made sure we knew Aaron
was OK."
Aaron, a standout quarterback in youth football, has been a fixture on Alhambra sidelines for years.
"Coach knew how close we all are with Aaron," Brady said. "He's like our 12th man. He didn't want us to worry about him."
Alhambra quarterback
Joshua Evans said he was just thankful his dad was there for him during the bombings and its chaotic aftermath.
"If
anyone can help a kid through something, it is coach Hern," Evans said.
"Especially as something as traumatic as that. Aaron is going to be
good. He's a tough, well-adjusted kid."
Hern said he was about
10 feet from the bomb when it detonated, but Aaron was seven feet
closer. His daughter was within a couple arm lengths. Re-telling the
nightmare appears almost therapeutic for Hern, who recounts every minute
detail.
"Aaron was right on top of it," Hern said. "When the
first bomb went off we all turned and looked in one direction. When the
second hit, it was just all so disorienting. You could feel the wave of
the bomb and the sound was enormous. Then there was a big cloud of smoke
and the smell of black powder. I can still smell it."
"At least I have one"Hern
said his son was somewhere in the cloud. But when he turned to look, he
saw Abigail sitting up four rows on some bleachers.
"I'm not
sure how she got there. She was hysterical and screaming," he said. "I
just grabbed her. I remember my first thought was ‘at least I have one
of them.' I had no idea where Aaron was."
After securing his daughter to a friend at an indoor restaurant, Hern raced back outside to find Aaron.
"The
smoke had cleared," he said. "People were hurt everywhere. Horrible
injuries. I looked and locked eyes with Aaron. I get to him and I'm
literally on my knees with my face on his. He's laid out with a big hole
in his leg. His hair is all stood up. His face is black from all the
smoke. His eyebrows are singed off.
"He was doing pretty good considering. He was scared, but he wasn't freaking out."
Medics
and strangers came to help. Someone made a makeshift tourniquet from a
belt. Soon Aaron was whisked away in an ambulance.
"I stood up,
looked around and he was gone," Hern said. "It looked like a war zone
all around. I remember thinking, ‘now what?' "
Human barriersAaron
told his dad later that he thought it was all a dream. "He couldn't
hear much. He said he felt like he was on fire. He saw others hurt. He
thought he might die or that he might be dead already. It was all very
surreal."
Alan (right) and Aaron Hern.
Photo courtesy of Hern family
Aaron got the medical attention he needed. The family
eventually was reunited. Relief and sheer gratefulness set in. So did
anger and questions and even survivor's guilt.
"We were
fortunate not to absorb much shrapnel because others did," Hern said.
"We were sparred by human barriers, people less fortunate than us."
Aaron
endured two surgeries at Boston Children's Hospital and returned home
to Martinez by his 12th birthday. Inactive for five weeks, the only
sport he could attempt immediately was swimming and he pulled off gold
standard times and won a recreational league meet by himself. Six weeks
later, he flew to Cooperstown (N.Y.) for a youth baseball tournament.
His
first inning on the mound he struck out the side. The next half inning
he hit a home run. This from a kid who ran a 42:30 10K as a 10-year-old.
That's 6.1 miles.
"He's a phenomenal kid," Alan said. "He has
such will power. It's one thing to be inactive for five weeks like that,
but to overcome such a traumatic ordeal is pretty remarkable."
The
apple evidently doesn't fall far from the tree. Alan will attempt his
first Ironman triathlon in Lake Tahoe later this month. He and
Katherine, also an endurance athlete, are expecting their third child in
November.
And the Alhambra football team, coming off a 2-7
record, appear to be in the hunt for a Diablo Foothill Athletic League
title. With Evans back for a second season, three strong running backs,
superb skill players, and an excellent junior class (the JV team went
9-1 last season), Hern expects a very good season.
But
considering what he and his family have endured since April 15, even if
the season goes South it won't be the end of his world. Not by a long
shot.
"I want us to do well, I really do," he said. "I enjoy
spending time with the kids. I've never held winning as life and death.
But I'm definitely not holding on as tight as I was before. I felt
earlier in my career, at times, that I wanted it more than the kids
sometimes. I don't think that's the case any more."