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Columbine's Boy in the Window By Patrick Ireland With Terry Frei A work in progress, Columbine's Boy in the Window is intended to be an antidote
to the emphasis on the killers and their motives. On April 20, 1999, Patrick Ireland was shot twice
in the head and once in the foot during the carnage in the Columbine High School library. When the killers left the library,
his surviving classmates tried to get him to come with them, but had to give up and and fled without him. Over
several hours, Patrick -- with one side paralyzed, with his right foot shattered and useless, with a shotgun pellet eight
inches into his brain, and with even his survival in doubt -- crawled to the second-floor window. Then,
with the world watching, he dropped out of it, into the arms of SWAT team officers. His recovery was arduous
and amazing, and it is a story of determination, support from around the world from people both famous and otherwise, triumph,
and success in his adult life. He is a well-adjusted, successful, inspirational young man who overcame adversity
not of his own creation and refused to make excuses, become bitter, or indulge in blame games. In some ways, he is the Boy
Next Door and Everyman who will generate head nods of recognition from people who see themselves or those around them in him;
in more ways, he is so much more.
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Chauncey Billups
Aerosmith
Sister Maggie Ireland (later Miss Colorado 2007) and Shania Twain ESPN.com excerpt in connection with Patrick Ireland's April 15 appearance on ESPN's Outside the Lines. (Excerpt
includes video of Patrick's escape from the Columbine library and also streaming of Patrick's OTL interview.) Good Morning America story on seriously wounded Patrick Ireland, Anne Marie Hochhalter, Valeen Schnurr. Kim Christiansen's interview with Patrick Ireland on Denver's KUSA, Channel 9. Story is on left, video is at upper right. August 2009 Denver Business Journal story on Patrick Ireland's recovery and rise in the business world |
