'I Don't Allow Myself To Get Sad Because I'm Here': Victim Of Washington Co. Building Collapse Recounts Terrifying Experience
Follow KDKA-TV: Facebook | Twitter
WASHINGTON, Pa. (KDKA) -- Megan Angelone has been out of the hospital since Sept. 28.
She lived in her apartment on North Main Street in the city of Washington for just two weeks before that day in July when everything changed.
"I remember everything the whole day," said Megan Angelone.
Angelone, 37, spends her days in a wheelchair because she can't walk.
Doctors had to cut her legs to relieve pressure caused by being trapped beneath a refrigerator for nearly ten hours.
"I'll never forget it was 9:05 when the apartment shook. I looked down at my boyfriend. The second time it came, I fell back and down," Angelone said. "The refrigerator was on me from here down and I could see the trusses and ceiling I mean rod. I was trying to pull myself out through the trusses."
Christine D'Antonio's Report:
Angelone managed to get her right leg out, but her left leg was stuck. Soon after, she heard firefighters enter the building.
"They told me a crane was coming so I thought this crane comes they could just lift it off me," Angelone said. "There was a second shift in the roof and they all had to leave. That, to me, was the worst experience of the whole thing -- being in there alone and that dead silence of not knowing if someone was going to come back."
Rescuers were finally able to extricate her after cutting an 18-inch hole into a wall in her apartment. Angelone was taken to UPMC Presbyterian where she underwent dozens of surgeries on her legs and was treated for a broken collar bone.
She nows undergoes physical therapist twice a week and hopes she will walk again.
"My nerves don't connect so until then I won't be able to walk. I can stand and walk with a walker," Angelone said.
Steps inside her mother's home where she's been staying make it difficult to get up and down.
"I have to scoot up and down on my butt to get up steps," Angelone said. "I can't walk. I should be mad and angry. I do get those feelings. I have a right to, but I don't allow myself to be sad because I'm here and I can still see my children and my family."
The owner of the building Mark Russo is scheduled to appear in court in the city of Washington for a citation hearing on Oct. 31. The building is well over 100 years old but Angelone says that's no excuse for what happened.
There is a GoFundMe set up for Angelone here: gofundme.com/miracle-of-angel-one