Aaron Hern 'Out of Surgery and Doing Well'

Since the explosions at the Boston Marathon Monday, the Hern family has been waiting in a Boston hospital as 11-year-old Aaron Hern undergoes surgery. Katherine Hern, who was running in the race, says that son Aaron came through his second surgery Wednesday evening and "did really well."

Aaron was wounded in the thigh by shrapnel, and will spend a week to 10 days in hospital, doctors say. He had a breathing tube and was suffering fevers, according to Katherine Hern, causing concern about the possibility of infection.

"There's an entire team of infectious diseases (experts) on it, though," said Katherine Hern in an update to friends and family. "This really is the best place in the world he could be right now."

During Aaron's second surgery on Wednesday, doctors were able to close his wounds without the need for skin grafts. His breathing tube was removed and Aaron was "trying to talk," according to his mother.

"Now the next hurdle to get through is the larger wound healing without having compartment syndrome," said Katherine Hern Wednesday evening. "They had to pull the muscle fascia together and it was so tight that they are concerned about compressing blood vessels."

She added: "He may not sleep very well tonight because he's so much more alert now and has a lot of very difficult feelings and memories he's already dealing with. So there's a long way to go there."

Local businesses and residents will be raising money to help the Herns with events planned throughout the coming week. A list of Hern family fundraisers is available here.

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