staten island advance.

for ferry amputee, emotional visit from bloomberg
mayor is visibly choked up as he swears he won't rest until meiers corners resident knows why he lost his legs.
10.30.2003

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Borough President James Molinaro stood at Paul Esposito's bedside last night at Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze, swearing they would not rest until the 24-year-old knows why he lost his legs.

During the quiet visit with Esposito, a Meiers Corners resident who was badly injured in the Oct. 15 ferry crash, the politicians offered as much comfort as they could.

Bloomberg was visibly choked up.

"Anything you need, just let us know," he told Esposito and his family. Esposito is usually cheery and optimistic, but yesterday was one of his harder days.

A few hours before the mayor and the borough president arrived, he had come out of a surgery in which doctors removed the remainders of his knees.

Groggy, in pain, and running a 103-degree fever, he was still alert enough to thank them for coming and tell them he appreciated their efforts.

"He's being the usual fighter. He's dealing well with it," his father, Michael Esposito, said.

The officials came to the hospital straight from a memorial for the ferry victims at the St. George Esplanade.

In the crash of the Andrew J. Barberi, 10 people were killed and 72 injured.

On the day of the accident, Esposito was returning from his job as a waiter at China Grill in Manhattan.

father attends service.

Michael Esposito attended the service to honor the victims who weren't as lucky as his son.

Since the crash, Paul Esposito has been flooded with support from all over the world.

His family has had to empty the flowers, get-well cards, letters and balloons from his hospital room several times.

"Everyone's generosity has really helped me. It's nice to see that there are so many people out there that are so caring and supportive of people they don't even know," Esposito said. "It's given me a lot of strength."

Schoolchildren have sent him well-wishes by the stack. A fifth-grade class from IS 125 in Woodside, Queens, sent him a decorated manila envelope full of letters. Most had drawings of sick people, balloons, hearts or American flags on them.

"I am thinking of you as a very brave gentleman who still has a spirit of a human being," one letter reads. "You are still yourself."

Another, signed by Anthony Pena, says, "Make sure you send greatness all over. You are a great hero."

bears fill room.

It's never been reported that Esposito likes bears, but his anonymous benefactors have somehow guessed it, and fill the room with them.

"My cousin brings me one bear a day. This is my bear for today," he said Tuesday, gesturing to the fuzzy, glittery angel-winged bear that he made sure didn't move from its position next to his left shoulder.

When he gets out of the hospital, Esposito plans to set up all the bears he's been sent in his house and get to work responding to everyone who's sent him an address.

Some of the gifts he's received are a bit unorthodox; He's been offered a laptop from a woman in New Jersey, and a short while ago a box came from a shop called Sockeye Sam's in Ketchikan, Alaska. It was full of salmon.

In his first card from overseas, an ex-nurse in London mentioned Kerry Griffiths, the British nurse who is credited with saving Esposito's life. "I feel proud that Kerry's training and experience were available to her when they were so vitally needed," she said.

Ms. Griffiths was treated as family by the Espositos, which she says helped her tremendously. She returned to Britain a few days after the accident, but keeps in touch with the Espositos via e-mail.

Yet not all the messages Esposito is getting are from concerned citizens. On Tuesday, as he emptied his cell phone's voice mailbox, there was a message from Bally's Total Fitness, whom Esposito had contacted about a membership days before the crash.

"They're still calling me - can't they put two and two together?" Esposito said, laughing.