Calling her husband's injuries "devastating," the wife of the Miami-Dade firefighter who fell down an elevator shaft during a call last week said he faces a challenging recovery.
"This is going to be hard on us," Alejandra Gonzalez, the wife of 18-year veteran firefighter David Gonzalez, told WFOR-TV. "We have four kids and this is going to be a long ride for us."
David Gonzalez, 50, fell several floors during a Jan. 14 call to rescue someone trapped in a stuck elevator at Bal Harbour Shops. He suffered a collapsed lung and serious injuries to his legs, shoulder and vertebrae that have required multiple surgeries.
"Yesterday, he had scapula surgery, and that was a long surgery,” Alejandra Gonzalez told WFOR. “Tuesday, he had another surgery on his leg for his femur. His legs are pretty bad. Both femurs are broken, and both knees are in pieces, and with his right leg so damaged, he may not be able to walk for three to four months.”
“That’s what we fear, working as he does in service, that he was going to get injured," she added. "But this is what he likes to—and this is what he wants to—do, serving the public."
Terrence Dolan, David Gonzalez's nephew who also is a Miami-Dade, firefighter is worried his uncle might not be able to return to the profession he loves.
"He’s going to be out of work for sometime, if he is ever able to return to work," Dolan told WFOR.
A GoFundMe page has been set up for David Gonzalez. So far, it has raised more than $53,000.
"This support is going to help him and it is going to help us recover from what happened," Alejandra Gonzalez told WFOR.
