'I promised him he wasn't going to die and I didn't even know his name.'
Author's note: First and foremost, sorry for the lack of recent material. Trying to get back to posting nowadays though, including some fiction projects to come. For now, here's an unedited, much longer version of a story I wrote that ran in Tuesday's New York Metro. Hope you enjoy and thanks for reading.
JRM
EMPIRE STATE BUILDING
Amid the hysteria of an erupting steam pipe and pedestrians running for their lives, all Junior Suarez could hear was piercing screams from a bloodied "pink" tow-truck driver who suffered third-degree burns to more than 80 percent of his body. Suarez, 27, said he encountered a "staggering" Gregory McCullough shortly after the July 18 explosion in midtown Manhattan. Just minutes before, McCullough had been driving with another woman, Judith Bailey, when the pipe burst near Grand Central Terminal, creating a sinkhole large enough to swallow the red truck.
"I don't know why, I just ran up to him, and as I did, he just fell in my arms," Suarez said yesterday. "There were cars everywhere, people screaming, and above all, his screams -- the sounds coming out of Gregory's mouth. It was just incredible to see someone in so much pain. His eyes were vacant and I remember lying him down on the floor, and as I did, the smell of his flesh just burning ... his skin looked so pink."
Roughly 20 minutes later, when a paramedic arrived and asked him to cut off McCullough's clothes, Suarez said the badly burned man violently shrieked as skin fell off his 21-year-old chiseled frame.
"Finally, he just grabbed my hand and he looked me in the eye and he told me, 'Just promise me you're not gonna let me die,'" recalled Suarez, who is shown below being consoled by McCullough's mother, Tanya McCollough-Stewart.
"And at that point, I promised him he wasn't going to die and I didn't even know his name. And as soon as I promised him, his eyes just went blank."
McCullough remains in an induced coma at the burn unit at New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center. Alongside his mother yesterday, attorneys Kenneth Thompson and Derek Sells said they intend to sue Con Edison -- and potentially the city and independent contractors -- for the blast that left McCullough badly burned, another woman dead and more than 40 others injured.
"We intend to protect Greg's interests all the way," Thompson said. "He is burned all over his body. His life will never be the same."
Beginning on Dec. 28, 2006, Thompson said Con Ed crews serviced or inspected the pipe on no less than six occasions, including during one visit just hours before the rupture.
"What it illustrates is that there was a problem at that intersection," he said. "We think that that is a tell-tale sign."
Alfonso Quiroz, a spokesman for Con Ed, said the utility continues to work with "outside experts" to determine a cause for the explosion.
"Our thoughts and prayers go out to all the victims and their families," Quiroz said. "Our 14,000 men and women work hard everyday to deliver energy as safely and as reliably as possible."
Meanwhile, Tanya McCullough-Stewart said she continues to hope that her son can one day resume his dream to work in law enforcement or to become a Marine. For the first time since the explosion, McCollough opened his eyes last week when she sung "Jesus Loves Me" in his hospital room.
"Him responding to my voice, it does wonders for me," McCullough-Stewart said through tears. "It does wonders for me because I know he's there. That's all I'm concerned about when I go to the hospital -- just letting him know that my presence is there."
McCullough-Stewart said her son faces a "long road" to recovery, including at least three more surgeries in addition to the multiple operations he has already undergone to remove dead muscle from his body. Costs for his medical care to date has been roughly $1 million. Doctors will decide on long-term treatment options sometime this week as McCullough heals, his mother said.
"As a mother, you know your child, and to see him grimacing in the hospital and not being able to a word, you know, you just know your child is in pain and there's nothing you can do about it," she said. "Nothing."
Joshua Rhett Miller
JRM
EMPIRE STATE BUILDING
Amid the hysteria of an erupting steam pipe and pedestrians running for their lives, all Junior Suarez could hear was piercing screams from a bloodied "pink" tow-truck driver who suffered third-degree burns to more than 80 percent of his body. Suarez, 27, said he encountered a "staggering" Gregory McCullough shortly after the July 18 explosion in midtown Manhattan. Just minutes before, McCullough had been driving with another woman, Judith Bailey, when the pipe burst near Grand Central Terminal, creating a sinkhole large enough to swallow the red truck.
"I don't know why, I just ran up to him, and as I did, he just fell in my arms," Suarez said yesterday. "There were cars everywhere, people screaming, and above all, his screams -- the sounds coming out of Gregory's mouth. It was just incredible to see someone in so much pain. His eyes were vacant and I remember lying him down on the floor, and as I did, the smell of his flesh just burning ... his skin looked so pink."
Roughly 20 minutes later, when a paramedic arrived and asked him to cut off McCullough's clothes, Suarez said the badly burned man violently shrieked as skin fell off his 21-year-old chiseled frame.
"Finally, he just grabbed my hand and he looked me in the eye and he told me, 'Just promise me you're not gonna let me die,'" recalled Suarez, who is shown below being consoled by McCullough's mother, Tanya McCollough-Stewart.
"And at that point, I promised him he wasn't going to die and I didn't even know his name. And as soon as I promised him, his eyes just went blank."
McCullough remains in an induced coma at the burn unit at New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center. Alongside his mother yesterday, attorneys Kenneth Thompson and Derek Sells said they intend to sue Con Edison -- and potentially the city and independent contractors -- for the blast that left McCullough badly burned, another woman dead and more than 40 others injured.
"We intend to protect Greg's interests all the way," Thompson said. "He is burned all over his body. His life will never be the same."
Beginning on Dec. 28, 2006, Thompson said Con Ed crews serviced or inspected the pipe on no less than six occasions, including during one visit just hours before the rupture.
"What it illustrates is that there was a problem at that intersection," he said. "We think that that is a tell-tale sign."
Alfonso Quiroz, a spokesman for Con Ed, said the utility continues to work with "outside experts" to determine a cause for the explosion.
"Our thoughts and prayers go out to all the victims and their families," Quiroz said. "Our 14,000 men and women work hard everyday to deliver energy as safely and as reliably as possible."
Meanwhile, Tanya McCullough-Stewart said she continues to hope that her son can one day resume his dream to work in law enforcement or to become a Marine. For the first time since the explosion, McCollough opened his eyes last week when she sung "Jesus Loves Me" in his hospital room.
"Him responding to my voice, it does wonders for me," McCullough-Stewart said through tears. "It does wonders for me because I know he's there. That's all I'm concerned about when I go to the hospital -- just letting him know that my presence is there."
McCullough-Stewart said her son faces a "long road" to recovery, including at least three more surgeries in addition to the multiple operations he has already undergone to remove dead muscle from his body. Costs for his medical care to date has been roughly $1 million. Doctors will decide on long-term treatment options sometime this week as McCullough heals, his mother said.
"As a mother, you know your child, and to see him grimacing in the hospital and not being able to a word, you know, you just know your child is in pain and there's nothing you can do about it," she said. "Nothing."
Joshua Rhett Miller
posted by Joshua Rhett Miller at 8:27 PM
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