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Donations pour in after Marathon Bombing survivor's plea

BOSTON (MyFoxBoston.com) -- FOX 25 viewers have responded with an outpouring of support and thousands of dollars in donations after hearing the story of Marathon Bombing survivor Karen Rand and the stranger she is helping.

Karen was at the finish line with her good friend Krystle Campbell when the first bomb went off, killing Campbell and destroying one of Rand's legs.

Karen is adjusting to life with her a prosthetic leg now, but that hasn't

stopped her from helping 14-year-old Melissa Estefania Salinas of El Salvador, who lost her own leg when a drag racing car crashed into her.

Karen has already found a donor to give Salinas an above-the-knee prosthetic leg – a $15,000-dollar device -- and is now raising money to help fly her here and pay for the care she needs.

Individual donations ranging from $5 to $2,000 dollars have come in since the story aired, raising nearly $8,000 total as of Monday evening. The goal is $15,000, money needed to fly her to Boston to get the medical care she needs.

You can donate here: https://www.giveforward.com/fundraiser/4z23/melissa-estefan-a-salinas-prosthetic-fund

On one of the few interviews she has ever given, Karen told FOX 25 just why she's doing this.

"I looked at her picture when she was sitting on her bed and she still had that smile on her face that it would just be so nice. It would make me feel good to know that we did a little bit to get somebody else walk too," Rand said. "But it also was a good thing for me because it's really easy to have a pity party as we like to say to really feel sorry for yourself and think wow this is so challenging and how am i going to live my life now and then it doesn't take much to look around and see there are a lot of other people who are a lot worse off."