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| Edited By: |Source: ANI |Updated: Dec 28, 2010, 10:41 PM IST
Spider-Man musical stuntman Christopher Tierney's father says that his son is fortunate to be alive.
The daredevil walked again on Christmas Eve for the first time since an onstage accident, which left him hospitalised over the holidays.
He fell from a platform during a performance of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark last week and suffered numerous injuries including several broken ribs, a fractured elbow, a bruised lung, three fractured vertebrae and a cracked skull.
Tierney had to spend the festive season at a New York hospital after undergoing back surgery last Wednesday, but he delighted his family by struggling back to his feet on the day before Christmas.
His father Timothy admits the 31-year-old is lucky to be alive and will be in the audience when the beleaguered show finally opens in February.
"My understanding is that Chris is fortunate to be alive. If they'd had to fuse Chris' vertebrae during surgery, that would have just been very awkward for dancing, because his mobility would have been restricted," the Daily Star quoted Timothy as telling the New York Times.
"Fortunately, they did not have to fuse. The doctors have put some pins and rods in his body for now to hold everything together, but a great deal of this is about self-healing, and time.
"We just feel very blessed that Chris is alive and well, and thank goodness that he knew enough to roll onto his right side and land that way rather than land on his head or back.
"Some people fall from a lesser height than Chris and suffer more damage, even fatal damage.
"This was an accident, pure and simple. He's just chomping at the bit to return to dancing, to go back to Spider-Man. He loves this production so much.
"I haven't had a chance to see it, but we have tickets for opening night. It looks like Chris will be in the audience with us that night, and we'll be glad to have him there," his father said.
