What to Know
- 19-year-old Connor Golden lost his foot when he stepped on a homemade explosive in Central Park in July
- In a post on his GoFundMe page on Monday, Golden said that he is learning to walk again using a prosthetic and has returned to college
- The person who left the homemade explosive in Central Park still hasn't been found
The college student whose foot was blown off by an abandoned homemade explosive inside Central Park this summer took his first steps this week and returned to school.
In a message posted Monday to his GoFundMe page, 19-year-old Connor Golden said he was grateful for the support of "friends, family, and compassionate people I have never met — including fellow amputees, New Yorkers, fellow students and alumni."
"You'll see that I'm smiling in the photo," Golden wrote, referring to a photo of him walking with a prosthetic.
He continued: "That's not just because I'm happy to begin walking again. It's also because I am so grateful for the huge amount of love and caring that has taken me from the shock of July 3 in Central Park, through the very difficult operations at Bellevue hospital, through police questioning and media pressure, through the healing process while at my parents’ house in Northern Virginia, through my trip back to school while on a wheelchair and crutches, to standing on my new leg."
Golden signed off with: "Forever grateful."
GoFundMe donators have raised more than $70,000 to help pay for the teen's medical expenses.
Golden was walking in Central Park with two friends on July 3 when he stepped on a rock covering a homemade explosive.
Breaking. Loud boom in Central Park. Man suffers major injury to leg. #nbc4ny pic.twitter.com/qI6reOjvuN
— Lori Bordonaro (@Lori4NY) July 3, 2016
His family said in July that he was recovering after three operations at Bellevue Hospital and was planning to return to the University of Miami, where he is studying music engineering.
Doctors said advancements in prosthetics will allow Connor to have a normal active lifestyle, and a program will help him learn to walk again.
Investigators believe the person who left behind the homemade explosive inside a plastic bag was experimenting with chemical mixtures to make a small explosion, law enforcement officials have said. When the bag failed to detonate, the person left behind the volatile mixture of chemicals in the park. There was no sign of any triggering mechanism, and authorities don't believe the device was designed to intentionally hurt people.
