The photo is classic Joe Andruzzi. He is carrying an injured woman, a stranger who has her arm around his beefy neck. He does not know anyone is taking the picture until one of the woman's daughters yells at the photographer: "Stop taking pictures of my mom!"
Andruzzi, former New England Patriots lineman, cancer survivor, son of a cop, carries her to an ambulance. It is around 3 p.m. on Monday afternoon, the world has gone to hell, Boston is in chaos and Andruzzi's sunglasses are still sitting perfectly on the top of his head. He calms down the woman's daughters. He finds others to help.
A few hours later, Andruzzi finally lost it … a little. He went home, to his five kids, and the enormity of the day hit him. But Andruzzi quickly composed himself. He does a lot of public speaking, and tells people that life has its ups and downs. "It's how you battle back from being down," he said.
It could be said that Joe Andruzzi is either one of the unluckiest -- or luckiest -- men in the world. His three brothers are New York City firefighters and were on the scene at the World Trade Center during 9/11. All three survived. Six years later, at the age of 31, Joe Andruzzi was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's Burkitt's lymphoma, a rare and fast-moving cancer. One year after that, Andruzzi was cancer-free and started the Joe Andruzzi Foundation to help cancer patients and their families.
Andruzzi was at the Boston Marathon on Monday because of his foundation. He got up early, took his kids to school and then headed to his fundraiser watch party at Forum, a restaurant on Boylston Street, which boasts of having the best view of the race's finish line. The sun was shining, the air was cool. It was a perfect day for the marathon.
By late Monday afternoon, his party site was a crime scene littered with blood and broken glass. Two bombs ripped through downtown Boston during the marathon, killing three and injuring at least 176. The second bomb exploded somewhere around the patio of the restaurant, a place where Andruzzi and many of his volunteers and loved ones had stood earlier in the day. His good friend Matt Chatham sat there as the explosions started. And miraculously, the former Patriots linebacker was OK, save for some ringing in his ears.
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