Perfect Strangers ─ Friendship, Strength, and Recovery After Boston's Worst Day

As Roseann Sdoia waited to watch her friend cross the finish line on Marathon Monday in Boston in 2013, she had no idea her life was about to change. She had no idea that in a matter of minutes she would look up from the sidewalk, maimed, dazed and deaf, staring at her detached foot, wondering if it was hers, and screaming for help amid the smoke and blood.

Four Strong is the story not only of how she survived the bomb that killed two bystanders next to her, but of the three heroes who were and continue to be part of her survival. Shores Salter, a college student when the blast went off instinctively ran into the smoke as his friends ran away. Shores used his belt as a tourniquet and quite literally saved Roseann's life. Shana Cottone, a rookie police officer realized there were no available ambulances and, through sheer force of personality and perseverance, managed to get Roseann into an abandoned paddy wagon that would eventually take her to the hospital. Mike Materia, an Iraq War veteran and proud Boston Firefighter who until that day hadn't dealt with the PTSD he suffered overseas took her hand and escorted her to the hospital. He never left her side. They are now partners.

Through the tragedy and loss, fear and confusion, rage and sorrow, the four friends have shared an experience at the razor's edge of death. Like returning veterans who find peace and comfort in each other's company, they have found an abiding affection for each other. Four Strong is about recovery, about choosing joy and human connection over anger and resentment, about the good in humanity muscling out the evil. It's the story of an unlikely celebration of life?a chance meeting of souls who found each other in the smoke and horror of one afternoon.

Roseann Sdoia is a public speaker and advocate for challenged athletes. She was born in Winchester, Massachusetts, a suburb north of Boston. After graduating from the University of Massachusetts/Lowell, she moved to Los Angeles where she began her career in real estate management. After two years working in LA and then Florida, she realized that all of her vacations were spent traveling home to New England, so she returned to Boston. Dedicated to both her professional and personal lives, Roseann's circle of friends and family is legendary - even her trauma surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital gave up on his ?one guest for only fifteen minutes per hour? rule when he saw her line of visitors stretched down the hospital corridor. She is committed to one day running the entire 26.2 mile Boston Marathon. In November of 2014, she completed her first 5K race since the bombing so she is on her way. Four Strong is her first book.