Image source: ABC News
“It was only a mile, I knew he was tired, I was like, ‘Where is he, where is he, where is he,’” Baltz told CNN. “All of a sudden the announcer just said, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, I want you to turn around and look at what’s happening on the course.’”
Ben told ABC News how it happened: “The screws came loose and it fell off and the Marine picked me up and he ran the rest of the way.”
He added, “It was pretty nice.”
The Marine who carried Ben was Pfc. Matt Morgan, part of a group of Marines volunteering at the triathlon.
“I’d seen him many times in the race. He was doing very well,” Morgan told ABC. “It came to the final leg of the race…as he approached the halfway point, his prosthetic failed and he fell.”
Ben told the News Herald that he and Morgan didn’t really talk while they were running, but when the other Marines joined in they sang a cadence. With the crowd cheering as they reached the end, Ben told the newspaper he felt grateful for the help, but said he was frustrated and embarrassed at not being able to finish on his own.
According to the Baltz family website, Ben was diagnosed with osteosarcoma at age 6 and had his right leg amputated at the knee. According to the Herald, up until the race, his only other prosthetic malfunction was during a soccer game. He fixed it up with some duct tape.
“He was going to finish the race no matter what, but I told him to jump on and we finished the race together,” Morgan told ABC.
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