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ROY — A Utah father of four is still in the hospital two weeks after being hit by a Frontrunner train, and doctors are unsure about his recovery.
Alex Suarez, 36, was getting off a FrontRunner train and headed to work when he was hit by a train traveling from the opposite direction. Investigators still aren't sure if he was just distracted or in a hurry to get to work.
Suarez's brother-in-law, Sergio Pio, said that Suarez had just started a new job and that his COBRA health insurance had expired two days before the accident.
"We've been on a roller coaster ride every single day," Pio said. "He has a broken leg, the knee, broken arm. They removed his spleen and eight ribs."
Pio has been at the McKay-Dee Hospital almost everyday for the past two weeks to check on the progress of Suarez. Doctors were able to repair most of the physical injuries, but they are still worried about brain damage that may have occurred.
"After they went deeper, they found it was more injury than was supposed to be on the brain," Pio said.
For now, Suarez's wife and four children are just waiting and hoping that life will get back to normal. They want Suarez to return to his goofy personality and that his affection for his kids and his love for his wife will continue the way they remember.
"I don't know how many private rooms are in this hospital that I've been crying alone because I don't want to transfer that to my sister," Pio said. "They say tomorrow he can wake up and everything will be fine or it could be six months to a year."
An account has been set up to help the Suarez family pay for medical bills. The account was set up as the "Alex and Gabriela Suarez family Fund" at Wells Fargo.
*KSL.com
