NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — An FDNY EMT will be able to spend Thanksgiving at home after he was released from the hospital on Wednesday, seven weeks after suffering a stroke while driving his ambulance.
Dozens of fellow EMTs cheered as Liam Glinane walked out of Mount Sinai Hospital under his own power.
"To walk out on your own function, your own power and your own terms. Not a bad package for Thanksgiving," Glinane said.
He was joined by 47-year-old EMT Lt. Raymond Wang, who suffered an aortic aneurysm while responding to Glinane's crash on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway on Oct. 17.
"I'm really happy that I came out of the hospital and I'm able to walk with Liam," said Wang, who was himself released from the hospital last month.
The recovery was difficult for the 63-year-old Glinane, but he is almost at 100 percent.
"Small steps but I've been making those small steps repeatedly since day one and it's gotten back to where I'm at today," he said.
Cardiologist Reade De Leacy says Glinane was in bad shape.
"Essentially, he presented with paralysis of the left side of his body, inability to speak properly," De Leacy said, attributing Glinane's energy and recovery to advances in medicine. "We've seen a cataclysmic change in the way that we treat these patients and the outcomes for these patients."
After losing 52 pounds, Glinane is looking forward to a home cooked Thanksgiving meal and is hoping to get back to work.
"I got the greatest job in the world," Glinane said.