A brave 12-year-old boy who was seriously injured while cheering on his runner mother in the Boston Marathon woke up between surgeries to ask if she completed the race despite the deadly blasts.
Aaron Hern is one of at least 11 children wounded in the senseless attacks at the finish line of Monday's event and today doctors at Boston Medical Center revealed that a five-year-old boy is among those still fighting for life.
No other details have been released about the youngster, who was presumably watching runners cross the finish line with his family. It's not known if they too are injured.
Young victims: Martin Richard, left, died in the bombings, while Aaron Hern, right, was seriously wounded and will undergo his second surgery on Wednesday
The terrorist attack already cut short the life of eight-year-old Martin Richard of Dorchester, Massachusetts, and left kids as young as two with life-changing wounds.
Young Aaron Hern, who was struck in the leg by shrapnel is scheduled to undergo surgery again today.
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Aaron was waiting to watch his mom, Katherine, cross the finish line when the explosions went off and now remains in serious condition at the intensive care unit of Boston Children's Hospital.
He goes in and out of consciousness, but the first question the brave sixth-grader asked when he woke up after surgery was 'Did mom finish.'?
'We have to tell him over and over again that everyone is OK, that Mom finished, that he was the only one seriously hurt,' a family friend Sandra Hall told the Mercurynews.com.
Boston Children's Hospital had a wave of young patients carted into its halls on stretchers after the bombings.
Injured: Martin Richard's little sister Jane, pictured front, lost a leg in the attacks which also injured children as young as two
Fighter: Aaron, pictured with his mother who was running the race, goes in and out of consciousness at Boston's Children's Hospital
Nine kids were admitted in total including a two-year-old boy who suffered a bleeding head wound and a 9-year-old girl who had leg trauma so serious she spent hours in the operating room.
Young Martin Richard was killed after the second bomb went off. His little sister, Jane, 6, lost a leg, and her father, Bill, told officials that she wouldn't have survived at all if it weren't for heroic first responders.
Other children wounded when the pressure cooker device filled with nails and ball-bearings blew include a 14-year-old boy with a head injury and a 10-year-old girl with a leg fracture.
A 12-year-old girl suffered a broken femur when the explosion went off at around 2:50 p.m. and a 7-year-old boy also suffered a leg injury. An additional three kids were treated in the ER for minor injuries.
Doctors at Boston Medical Center revealed the number of patients still in critical condition had dropped from 11 to just two by Wednesday.
Dr Peter Burke, chief of trauma surgery at BMC, said 19 of a total 23 patients the hospital received after the tragedy remain hospitalized.
Runners continue to run towards the finish line of the Boston Marathon as an explosion erupts near the finish line
Kids in the crossfire: Boston Children's Hospital had a wave of young patients carted into its halls on stretchers after the bombings
'This particular event was very much focused on the lower extremities, it seems,' Burke said, describing the types of injuries suffered. Only one or two people sustained head injuries and those injuries were not severe he said.
According to Boston.com, eight patients will be operated on again today, many for the second or third time. On a happier note, Burke also said that one or two patients may be released from hospital today.
'I will not be happy until they are home,' Burke said. 'I will not be satisfied.'
In addition to his scheduled surgery today, doctors will try to determine if young Aaron will need skin grafts to help heal his upper thigh where he was burned, Hall added.
His distraught mother updated friends and family on Aaron's condition with a message on her Facebook page late on Monday.
'I'll keep this short because I need to get back to Aaron and try to get some sleep,' she wrote.
'First, thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers. Aaron is in the ICU but stable. Has many lacerations but mostly superficial except one. One on his upper left thigh needs more surgery and just not sure yet the extent of the damage. Will be here about 7-10 days with follow up surgeries.'