Family of Martin Richard, 8 — including sister who lost her leg — still healing a ...

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A year after the Boston Marathon bombings that killed Martin Richard, his family still sets a place for the 8-year-old boy at the dinner table.

Then dad Bill Richard realizes he's put out five plates, and quietly clears one away.

Over the past 12 months, Bill and Denise Richard have quietly and carefully nursed their family back to physical health - all while dealing with the type of emotional wound that never seems to heal.

In their first words since the horrific terrorist attack that killed Martin, the couple told the Boston Globe about their family journey through loss.

It didn't stop with Martin.

Daughter Jane, now 8, lost her left leg.

Denise Richard was struck with shrapnel, leaving her blind in one eye.

Bill Richard's ear drums were punctured by the blast.

Only eldest son Henry, 11, emerged outwardly unscathed. But in the words of sister, he 'was hurt in his heart.'

In the immediate aftermath of the April 15, 2013, terrorist bombing that killed three and injured an estimated 234, the family focused on tending to Jane.

She needed 10 grueling weeks in rehab, and then had to endure numerous fittings for a prosthetic leg.

When the family finally loaded up the station wagon to return together to their Dorchester home, the missing space in the back seat where Martin usually sat was agonizing, the Globe said.

It was July, and normally the family would head to New Hampshire to the house they shared with other relatives.

But it was impossible to return there without Martin, the family told The Globe.

His Red Sox backpack still hung by the door. His room, across the hall from his parents, was untouched.

The family took up sailing, spending time on the Charles River learning the basics.

Denise Richard, unable to see out of one eye, once got a hard knock from the boom.

She laughed it off, and the family laughed with her.

Over time, Jane and Henry returned to the normal squabbling of siblings - fighting over things like who would get to hold the tiller or pull the jib.

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But it was clear they missed their buffer, brother Martin, the quintessential peace-loving middle child.

'I miss Martin,' was a lament the Richards heard frequently from Henry, who had been diagnosed with PTSD.

He fell into a funk when a text Martin had sent him in the morning of April 15 disappeared from his phone, his parents told The Globe.

Jane, still unable to get a prosthetic leg due to a bone growth on her amputated limb, bore the delays with stoic optimism.

Through it all, the steady flow of support from friends, neighbors and strangers kept the family afloat.

The One Fund, a charity for the Boston Marathon bomb victims, received several million dollars for the Richard family. It was placed in trusts for Henry and Jane.

Thousands of people - many of them children - sent letters of support. Celebrities, like Taylor Swift sent keepsakes and autographed gifts.

For the holidays, the family improvised.

They went on a Turkey Trot run for Thanksgiving, a new tradition. Jane, pushed in her wheelchair, surprised everyone by insisting on running the last few steps on her new leg.

For Christmas, the family took a train to Washington. Bill and Denise can't fly because of the damage to their ears.

They attended a White House holiday party at the special invitation of President Obama and the First Lady.

The rest of the holidays were spent skiing and relaxing in New Hampshire, but in a new house that held no memories of Martin.

Not long into 2014, the family decided it was time to launch the Martin Richard Foundation.

The nonprofit's motto was taken from a poster Martin did at school: 'No more hurting people - peace.'

It has a team of 100 runners who will compete in Martin's honor in the Boston Marathon on Tuesday.

Martin had an avid interest in running and as he stood at the finish line last year, he'd asked his mother how old he would need to be to compete in the race.

'His first marathon is yours,' Bill Richard told 100 runners selected by the foundation.

He urged them all to think about Martin as they hit Heartbreak Hill and to whoop it up in his name as they crossed the finish line.