Brockton Boy Continues Fight To Walk After Falling Out Window
BOSTON (CBS) – It happened in an instant, a fall out a window, and a little boy from Brockton is fighting to recover.
Three-year-old Avandro Goncalves has been hospitalized for three very long months, undergoing multiple surgeries and rehabilitation. Many of his injuries have healed now, but the challenge is whether he will be able to walk again.
Avandro calls Franciscan Hospital for Children home, right now. In March he was playing with his brother and fell 25 feet from the second floor of his Brockton home.
His mother, Eva, was in the kitchen when the terrifying accident happened.
"I remember that I was just going to him, and just praying," she recalls.
Avandro was rushed to Children's Hospital with blood in his lungs, broken ribs, shoulder and arm. But most seriously, a spinal cord injury.
"He's not walking yet, and that's going to be a longer process," says Stephanie Hopkins, a nurse practioner at Franciscan.
Avandro also receives daily therapy at the Brighton hospital.
"It's going to be a long process for the nerves to heal and regenerate," said Hopkins.
The boy's mom said she will do everything possible to help her son walk.
"I will fight, me and him, we'll fight for it. We will work for it, for him to walk again," says Avandro's mom, who thinks Avandro unlocked and opened the window on the upper floor.
"Sometimes you see on the news, a child fell from here or from there, and the very first reaction you have is to say, where was the mom? How can that happen? I was there, and it can happen like this. I thank God every day that he did allow me to have him again."
The good news is that Avandro has made a lot of progress and there are some good signs that his legs are healing.
His first outing since the accident will be on Saturday at the Boston Wiffle Ball Challenge, a fundraiser for Franciscan Hospital for Children. The Boston Wiffle Ball Challenge also benefits the Travis Roy Foundation.
Avandro's Dad will play in the tournament that takes place at Boston University's New Balance Field from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
For information about window guards and other ways to protect your children from falls visit the Boston Public Health Commission's website.
