Alcides Moreno, the man who fell from the top of a Manhattan tower is awake and talking. Reports say that the scaffolding Moreno and his brother Edgar were on collapsed causing the two men to plummet 47 stories, about 500 feet, down. Edgar did not survive the incident. He landed on a fence which cut his body in half. He was 30 years old.
The accident was a “complete disaster” said Dr. Herbert Pardes, the president of New York Presbyterian Hospital where Moreno is recuperating. Both of Moreno’s legs, his right arm and wrist have been broken. He suffered severe injuries to his abdomen, chest and spinal column as well as internal bleeding in his brain. 24 pints of blood and 19 pints of plasma were given to him.
Too afraid to move the broken and battered Moreno, doctors performed the first surgery in his hospital bed. Nine more surgeries were done later to repair the man’s body.
Dr. Philip Barie was so astonished at Moreno’s survival, he commented on his recovery by saying “If you are a believer in miracles, this would be one.” Having treated fall victims before, Dr. Barie pointed out “Above ten stories, most of the time we never see the patients because they’re in the morgue... We’re talking about tiny, tiny percentages, well under 1%, of people who fall that distance and survive.”
Moreno is scheduled to undergo yet another operation on his spinal column and more will follow to reconstruct the abdominal wall, Dr. Barie expects Moreno to be able to walk again. “Our goal is not just survival, but functional survival.”
One week after his fall, Moreno started to move his arms and legs. He was even able to stroke his wife’s face. On Christmas day stroked the face of a nurse. 37 year old Rosario, Moreno’s wife, responded to him by saying “Your not supposed to do that. I’m your wife, you touch your wife.” Moreno turned and said “What did I do?” Those were the first words he had spoken since the accident.
Moreno’s wife has been by his side for a month, she even has her own room with a key. His three children, 14 year old Michael, 8 year old Mariah, and 6 year old Andrew visited him once, apparently to prove to themselves that their father is alive, unlike their deceased uncle, Edgar.
Rosario has told her husband, “You’re not going back to work there.”
