staten island advance.

crash victim meets his guardian angel
emergency room nurse from Wales is credited with saving the life of a man who lost both legs.
10.18.2003

As soon as he was out of surgery, Paul Esposito, the 24-year-old Meiers Corners resident who lost both legs in Wednesday's ferry crash, told his family about the young nurse with black hair, green eyes and a British accent, who saved his life.

But Kerry Griffiths, the 34-year-old Wales resident who stemmed the bleeding in Esposito's legs after they were mangled by a metal pole, thought it would be too forward to press the family for information on Esposito's condition. She returned to her Manhattan hostel to write them a letter instead. It wasn't until Ms. Griffiths called a nurse at the hospital that she learned the Espositos were making impassioned media pleas in hopes of finding and thanking her.

When she was reunited with Paul Esposito yesterday, the young woman broke down in tears.

"We just looked at one another, and it was definitely a moment," Ms. Griffiths said. A witness said the scene was like something out of an Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant movie.

"I hardly recognized him; he's got color in his cheeks now and he's smiling," the nurse said during a press conference yesterday at Staten Island University Hospital. "We've been through so much together, and he was so brave. I care for him deeply."

Ms. Griffiths, who was on her first-ever ferry ride when the crash occurred, came upon Esposito in the chaos that followed. An operating room nurse, she asked Esposito if he wanted her to stay. He said yes.

"I just remember having a belt. I might have even said, 'Get me a belt,'" she said. Once she had one in her hands, she wrapped it around Esposito's legs to stop the blood flow, an action doctors said saved his life.

Esposito told her he knew he had lost his legs.

"I said, 'You have. But you need to concentrate on staying alive," she said.

The nurse said she offered him as much comfort as she could by holding his hand, supporting his head and wrapping her sweatshirt around him to keep him warm. She also tried to shield him from the sight of a nearby body and a woman - whom Esposito had tried to save - who had been slashed at the waist by a metal pole.

That victim lost her entire left leg and half of her right, and is still in critical condition at Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze.

"The carnage, it was really bad. We held onto each other," Ms. Griffiths said. While they waited for help, the two held hands and spoke of their families.

When the ferry docked, Esposito was badly in need of oxygen, so Ms. Griffiths started shouting.

"I thought, 'Oh no, I'm going to lose him now.' I fought for him every step of the way. I wanted to hand him back to his family."

She insisted on riding in the ambulance with Esposito to ensure he was taken into an operating room right away.

He was the first ferry victim to go into surgery at University Hospital. Yesterday the Esposito family huddled protectively around Ms. Griffiths, hugging her as if she was one of their own.

"She did more than any person on earth could do. We found our angel," Esposito's grandfather, Michael, said. "She is family."

Doctors said a man with Esposito's injuries would have died within 10 minutes from blood loss.

"If she hadn't had done what she did, he never would have gotten here," said Dr. Armen Kasabian, University Hospital's chief plastic surgeon.

Esposito is said to be in good spirits, though he spent a night awake from pain in his legs. He is currently undergoing multiple surgeries to clean out and close his wounds.

Last night Esposito's family helped Ms. Griffiths move her belongings from her Manhattan hostel to the Staten Island University Inn, so she can see Esposito as often as she likes.

She still plans to leave for Britain on Monday, but said she will keep in touch as long as Esposito is willing.

Friends of Esposito's say he is a sweet and flirty guy who always tries to make people laugh. As of yesterday, that hadn't changed; during his reunion with Ms. Griffiths, he joked that she was holding him too tightly, and asked if he could have his hand back.

"I said, 'No, you can't!' " Ms. Griffiths said.