A grieving father revealed yesterday how hospital staff told him they had saved his daughter after the bomb blast when they had actually treated her friend.
Krystle Campbell, 29, was named as the second person to die in the Boston Marathon outrage.
She had joined her friend, Karen Rand, near the finishing line to cheer on Karen’s boyfriend in the race.
The pair were caught in the first explosion, and father William Campbell and his wife spent 12 hours believing that doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital were operating on their daughter’s leg.
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Krystle Campbell's parents had believed she survived for 12 hours and only learned she had died after going into the hospital room and discovering her friend there instead
Heartbreaking mixup: William Campbell was told his daughter, Krystle, (right), survived but later discovered doctors were actually operating on her friend Karen Rand, (left)
Meanwhile, panicked messages were circulating on Twitter saying that Miss Rand was missing.
‘We had the doctors come out and tell us everything they did [for the survivor] – and it wasn’t our daughter,’ said Mr Campbell, 56.
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When doctors allowed the couple in at 2am to see the patient, they were horrified to discover their recovering patient was Karen.
Mr Campbell said: ‘I said, “That’s not my daughter, that’s Karen! Where’s my daughter?” The doctors were as shocked as we were.’
An hour later, a police detective arrived and showed them a picture of their daughter, a steakhouse restaurant manager from Medford, Massachusetts.
Heartbreaking. Mother of Boston bombing victim pays tribute to...
Heartbroken: Krystle's mother Patty Campbell, centre, flanked by her brother, John Reilly, and son, Billy, spoke to reporters outside her home in Medford, Mass. on Tuesday and said her daughter had a heart of gold
Mourning: Patty Campbell (top right), mother of Boston Marathon explosion victim Krystle Campbell, told reporters that she couldn't have asked for a better daughter
‘I almost passed out on the floor,’ said Mr Campbell. Relatives believe the tragic mix-up occurred because Karen had been carrying her friend’s ID.
Mr Campbell said his daughter had been ‘Daddy’s little girl’, adding: ‘My daughter was the most lovable girl. She was a wonderful, wonderful girl, always willing to lend a hand.
‘She helped everybody, and I’m just so shocked right now. We’re just devastated.'
Krystle had attended the University of Massachusetts-Boston and had been living with her grandmother to care for her during an illness over the past couple of years. She went to watch the marathon every year.
Krystle's grandmother Lillian Campbell said she went to the marathon every year 'because she loved people'
Her father had only anger for whoever carried out the bomb attack. ‘I hope they catch the bastard and fry him,’ he said.
‘I can’t understand it – someone doing that. People are out there enjoying a beautiful day and then to have this happen.’
He added: ‘And then the little boy that passed. It’s totally tragic.’
The mayor of Medford, Krystle’s home town, said he had attempted to console Mr Campbell. ‘Mr Campbell said that she certainly was a dream daughter, the daughter that every father dreams to have and friends of hers said that she was eager about life,’ said Mayor Michael McGlynn.
Krystle Campbell worked as a manager at a steakhouse and was living with her ill grandmother so she could take care of her
'My daughter was the most lovable girl': William Campbell said about his daughter, Krystle, (right), pictured with a friend
‘She had a great sense of humour and freckles and red hair that brought her right to her Irish roots.
‘She was someone who worked hard at everything she did.
‘Another friend said she may have been a little loud at times but it was a loudness you loved.’
A former colleague of Krystle, Steve Sullivan, said she was ‘a beautiful person’ and ‘an angel’.
He added: ‘Whenever I saw her, she always had a smile on her face.’