AFTER THE FALL - 47-STORY GUY WALKING TALL.
He's a walking miracle. Pictured above: Alcides Moreno, who fell 47 stories after his window-washing rigging broke, walks his puppy, Bruno. Window washer Alcides Moreno, who amazed doctors by surviving a 47-story plunge from an Upper East Side high-rise in December, is now astounding his neighbors, as he looks like any other guy out walking his dog in his New Jersey neighborhood. A limp and a long scar and gash on his left calf are the only signs of the horrific fall that killed his brother, also a window washer. "Thanks to God," he said as he left his Linden home with his wife, Rosario, and their 2-month-old pug, Bruno, on their way to a post office.
"It feels good to have him home," said his wife, who kept a vigil at his bedside. But Moreno's stunning recovery has been overshadowed by grief for his brother. "It's no celebration," he said.
Moreno, 37, and his brother, Edgar, 30, were scrubbing glass at the top of an apartment building at 265 E. 66th St. on Dec. 7 when cables connecting their 16-foot-long aluminum scaffold to the roof failed. The brothers fell 500 feet to the ground - more than enough to kill them. Doctors say falls from three or four stories are fatal half the time. But Alcides Moreno survived - his plunge slowed by the flat scaffold platform's wind resistance and the possibility that it slammed into the ground corner first. With serious injuries to his brain, chest and abdomen, several fractured ribs, a broken arm and both legs smashed, Moreno was rushed to New York Hospital, where quick work by doctors and nurses saved his life. During his three weeks in the hospital, Moreno underwent 16 operations and numerous blood transfusions. On Christmas Day, he shocked doctors by speaking for the first time since the accident. "I did what?" the father of three asked as he came out of a medically induced coma and heard his wife gently chiding him for stroking a nurse's face. Moreno spent six weeks in the hospital before being moved to a rehab center in January. He went home a few weeks ago, though he still goes to rehab three times a week.
The Ecuador native is suing the building owner and management company and the scaffolding firm, which, he says, "acted with gross negligence" when it built the platform he and his brother were working on. "I still feel it's impossible," his friend and neighbor Walt Melnyk said of Moreno's recovery. "I did not expect to see him walking. He's a tough guy."
"It feels good to have him home," said his wife, who kept a vigil at his bedside. But Moreno's stunning recovery has been overshadowed by grief for his brother. "It's no celebration," he said.
Moreno, 37, and his brother, Edgar, 30, were scrubbing glass at the top of an apartment building at 265 E. 66th St. on Dec. 7 when cables connecting their 16-foot-long aluminum scaffold to the roof failed. The brothers fell 500 feet to the ground - more than enough to kill them. Doctors say falls from three or four stories are fatal half the time. But Alcides Moreno survived - his plunge slowed by the flat scaffold platform's wind resistance and the possibility that it slammed into the ground corner first. With serious injuries to his brain, chest and abdomen, several fractured ribs, a broken arm and both legs smashed, Moreno was rushed to New York Hospital, where quick work by doctors and nurses saved his life. During his three weeks in the hospital, Moreno underwent 16 operations and numerous blood transfusions. On Christmas Day, he shocked doctors by speaking for the first time since the accident. "I did what?" the father of three asked as he came out of a medically induced coma and heard his wife gently chiding him for stroking a nurse's face. Moreno spent six weeks in the hospital before being moved to a rehab center in January. He went home a few weeks ago, though he still goes to rehab three times a week.
The Ecuador native is suing the building owner and management company and the scaffolding firm, which, he says, "acted with gross negligence" when it built the platform he and his brother were working on. "I still feel it's impossible," his friend and neighbor Walt Melnyk said of Moreno's recovery. "I did not expect to see him walking. He's a tough guy."
1 comment:
Simply amazing what the human body can withstand sometimes, while other times it is so fragile.
Mark Poole
Portland Window Cleaning
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