Satellite Beams Baby Party to Bomb Victim

Some residents are refusing to let distance come between themselves and Daina Bradley.

After the Oklahoma City woman lost two children, her mother and her right leg in last year’s bombing of the federal building there, they set up a fund to buy her a prosthetic leg. When she got married a few months later, they organized the wedding, complete with gifts.

When they learned that she is due to have a baby on April 19, exactly a year after the bombing, they organized a baby shower for her in Laguna Beach.

Because Bradley must stay in bed in Oklahoma City for the remaining weeks of her pregnancy, the group videotaped the shower and shared it with her Monday by satellite.

“We are really happy for her,” said Laguna Beach hairdresser Mo Cunningham. As Cunningham put it, the town has gone “crazy over her” in part because she has shown poise and grace in the face of tragedy.

“She’s an inspiration to all of us,” said Penny King, a local businesswoman. Many of those at the shower said Bradley’s courage and resilience--and now pregnancy--make their own troubles with wildfires, floods and earthquakes seem trivial.

Three dozen business people and residents wearing “It’s a Boy” name tags played shower games and sent their best wishes to Bradley. A clothesline of colorful baby socks adorned the patio of the local hotel where the event was held.

The stack of gifts, to be shipped to Bradley, included one from Police Chief Neil Purcell, who brought a baby outfit decorated with fire engines and hats.

Having a baby shower without the guest of honor, Cunningham said, didn’t seem odd: “She’s in our hearts, and we are in hers.”