The Journey of NEM Takes Flight: A Conversation with Erika Brannock

by Jessica A. Kent

In 2013, two bombs were detonated at the Boston Marathon, killing three and injuring over 260 others. Erika Brannock was at the finish line that day, with her sister and brother-in-law, waiting to watch her mother, who was running her first marathon, come down Boylston Street to finish the race. The first bomb detonated directly in front of Brannock, and her injuries would result in the loss of her left leg above the knee, injuries to her right leg, and hearing loss, and she would spend almost two months in the hospital. Yet in that moment on Boylston Street, right after the detonation, Brannock knew that she wasn’t ready to go, that there was still more life to live and work to be done.

Five years later, Brannock has released her first children’s book entitled The Journey of NEM, about a dragonfly named NEM who loses one of her wings during a storm. NEM recovers with the help of family, friends, and medical personnel, and upon emerging back into the world, fitted with a new prosthetic wing, discovers that everyone is different in their own unique way.

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