Lynn family relives harrowing Marathon ordeal

LYNN – Almost a year later, Karen DiLisio’s voice still cracks and strains when she recounts the harrowing moments after two home-made bombs shattered the reverie and innocence that was the Boston Marathon.”I was on Commonwealth Avenue, and I’d reached Mile 25.29,” she says, pointing to a T shirt her husband had made for her at Harrington Trophy Co. with the mile marker on it. “All of a sudden, everyone came running toward us. At that point, you’re doing the suicide shuffle – that’s what I call it – where you’re just tired, you’ve been running for four hours, and you want to get to the finish line. You just keep going,” she said.”When the crowd got closer to her, “someone told me that there were bombs that went off near the grandstand.”Now, not only did she have to contemplate not finishing the race she’d trained so hard to run, she began frantically worrying about her family. Her husband Dave, 6-year-old son Luke, sister (Lynn School Committeewoman Patty Capano), friend Rene Hosker and mother Carol Hanscom were there.”Once they said grandstand,” Karen DiLisio said, “I was in the state of shock. I had family there waiting for me.”The bombs were actually across the street, one right outside of Marathon Sports on Boylston Street, a few feet from the finish line; and the other in front of the Forum grille/restaurant a few blocks back toward the Prudential Center.Both Karen DiLisio and her husband had the same reaction when they heard the blasts … that was nothing to worry about.”I thought it was some kind of gimmick,” she said.”I thought it was the same kind of ceremonial cannon you might hear going off on Memorial Day or July Fourth,” Dave DiLisio said. “I was actually under the grandstands at the time, and when I looked up and saw the looks on people’s faces, I knew something was seriously wrong.”At that point,” he said, “my job was to get my family together and get them to some place safe.”Initially, the granstand crowd was funneled into the Boston Public Library – something gave Dave DiLisio some comfort.”These were small bombs,” he said. “They weren’t powerful enough to take down a building.”Still, the scene at the finish line was chaotic … and so was the scene on Commonwealth Avenue. The two sites are almost literally right around the corner from each other, but they might as well have been a planet-and-a-half away.”It took us five hours,” said Hosker, “from the time we left the bleachers to the time we finally all met up. We ended up going to the Brigham and Women.”That’s because after being herded through the library and down an alley, Dave DiLisio thought it best to follow the official evacuation route.”It took us down Huntington Avenue, a nice, wide street that could accommodate a crowd of people.”Still, the route was a little too circuitous for Carol Hanscom, who is 75.”We walked so far,” she said. “Finally, I had to sit down. I said ‘no way! I’m not going to take another step’.”Only the exhortations of her daughter’s friend Rene kept her going.”I said ‘you’re going to keep going no matter what. And we’ll meet Karen and everything will be OK,” Hosker said.Meanwhile, Karen, with just runners’ clothes on and no phone with her, began to see how solicitous total strangers were to her plight.”Everyone was crying and hugging,” she said. “People came out of their houses to put blankets around us, give us sweatshirts … but I don’t think I’ve ever felt so helpless.”Out of all that chaos, though, it was comforting to see how helpful total strangers were. People let me use their phones so I could text my husband. You couldn’t call. But we could text,” she said.Regarding the cell phone, “I had to conserve mine. The first text I made was to someone telling them not to text me because I had to conserve power. If I didn’t recognize the number, I looked at it because I knew it might be my wife.”The only thing on any of their minds was to find a place to meet up. They settled on Kenmore Square. The family went via Brigham and Wom