Towson Bombing Survivor: 'That Day Will Never Leave Me...'

Before a judge sentenced Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to death, victims were given the chance to speak about how his actions changed their lives on April 15, 2013.

Among the survivors was a Towson woman whose leg was amputated as a result of the bombing.

“To say that I am lucky to be standing on one of my own legs is an understatement,” Erika Brannock, 31, said in court Wednesday, according to a report from the Boston Herald.

Brannock and her sister had been waiting to watch their mother to complete her first marathon when the pressure-cooker bombs that Tasrnaev and his brother planted near the finish line exploded, leaving three people dead and more than 260 others injured.

Brannock was hospitalized for 50 days.

She underwent 21 surgeries, including having her leg amputated, and said of the bombing: “That day will never leave me, no matter how much therapy I have,” according to NBC News.

Brannock said she had to leave teaching ”because I can’t run after my students,” the Boston Herald reported.

She worked at Trinity Episcopal Children’s Center and Davenport Preschool in Towson, Patch previously reported.

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As she spoke inside the federal courthouse, Brannock was fighting tears, according to CBS Boston.

Tsarnaev would not look at her, Boston Magazine reported; instead, he watched the jurors.

A federal jury ruled in May that Tsarnaev would be punished by death for his actions during the 2013 marathon.

U.S. District Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. formally handed down the sentence, declaring that Tsarnaev would be executed.

Tasarnaev and his older brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev—who was killed trying to elude police after the attack—conspired to set off the bombs.

“I would like to now apologize to the victims and to the survivors,” Tsarnaev said when presented with the chance to address the court Wednesday afternoon. “I am sorry for the lives that I’ve taken, the suffering that I’ve caused and the damage that I’ve done, irreparable damage.”

Next, Tsarnaev will be taken to the federal death row facility in Terra Haute, Ind., as he awaits his appeal, according to NPR.

Screenshot of Erika Brannock and her mother, Carol Downing, on June 24, 2015, from YouTube/Ruptly TV.