A Boston Marathon bombing survivor is set to wed the handsome fireman who saved her life.
Roseann Sdoia, 48, was a spectator near the race finish line on April 15, 2013 when two homemade pressure-cooker bombs went off.
Firefighter Mike Materia, 37, rushed to her aid and comforted her during the ride to Massachusetts General Hospital in a police vehicle.
Recalling the horror, Roseann told New York Post: “I asked him if I was going to die. And he told me that I was going to be OK, that I only had a flesh wound.”
Mike visited Roseann a couple of days later while she was recovering in intensive care and made a great impression on her mum.
Roseann said: “In the hospital, my mum tried to set me up with him.
“She was like, ‘Oh, did you see that firefighter? He’s so cute’, and I was like, ‘Mum, I just got blown up’.”
As weeks passed, the pair struck up a friendship. After Roseann had her leg amputated, Mike supported her unconditionally and helped her track down a prosthetist.
“I knew I was starting to have feelings for him because he was so kind and caring,” she said.
“And he has an unbelievable smile.”
The lovebirds went on their first date in June 2013. A month later, they spent the Fourth of July on Nantucket.
Last month, Mike proposed on a lookout deck at the island’s whaling museum with the help of their pooch, Sal.
The dog was wearing a special engraved dog tag that read, “Mike wants to know … If you’ll marry him.”
“Sal means so much to both of us,” Roseann said. “It couldn’t have been more romantic.”
She added: “I was probably not the nicest to him from the get-go. I was in pain. But now we laugh and blame it on the morphine.
“He’s seen me on my worst day.”
The couple now plan to have a small wedding in October or November.
“I do feel that, in a sense, some things happen for a reason,” Roseann said.
In March, they are set to release a book called Perfect Strangers about four lives that intersected during the bombing.
Meanwhile, Roseann’s road to recovery will take her to the Empire State Building, where she and her fiancé will participate in the annual race up the 1,576 stairs to benefit charity.
The Empire State Building Run-Up helps raise money for the Challenged Athletes Foundation so “people with physical disabilities can pursue active lifestyles,” according to the race’s website.