The window washer who survived after a 500 feet fall from an Upper East Side apartment building on December 7 is on the road to recovery, his doctors announced today. Since his accident Alcides Moreno, 37, has undergone numerous operations, but according to a New York Times report, the doctors are hopefully he will walk again.

"If you are a believer in miracles, this would be one," Dr Philip S Barie, chief of critical care at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center was quoted by the New York Times.

On December 7 the platform where Moreno was working collapsed and he clung to it, as he fall 500 feet. His brother, who was also working on the platform, died in the accident.

Moreno, who is a native of Ecuador, has suffered from multiple broken bones and severe head injuries. He spoke his first words since the fall on Christmas, asking in English, "What did I do?"

Though, as Philip S Barie noted, Moreno will undergo a new surgery on Friday to stabilize his spine. "Our goal is not just survival, but functional survival," Barie said.