staten island advance.

Double amputee retains zest for life.
meiers corners resident, 24, flirts with nurses at staten island university hospital.
10.17.2003

Wednesday he lost both his legs. Yesterday he was flirting with skirted nurses.

Paul Esposito, a 24-year-old Meiers Corners resident whose legs were amputated below the knee after the Staten Island ferry crash, was said to be awake, alert, and in good spirits just 24 hours after his operation.

"He's a good boy, a kind boy," his grandmother, Marie Esposito, said.

Esposito and his family are still searching for the mysterious woman who saved Esposito's life.

The waiter was riding the ferry after his slow workday at upper-crust Manhattan restaurant China Grill was cut short. He was among the passengers crowding the bow of the ship, waiting to disembark, when the boat collided with the pier.

When the 6-foot, 3-inch, lanky young man knelt to assist an injured woman, the frame of the boat gave way. Within seconds his legs were pinned under hundreds of pounds of steel and debris.

Surrounded by carnage, Esposito thought he would die until a woman with an English accent - "Kerry" - applied tourniquets to his legs to stop the bleeding.

Esposito told his family she was the reason he survived, but she disappeared after the accident. The family is desperate to find her and thank her, but no one has yet come forward.

His grandparents, Westerleigh residents Michael and Marie Esposito, spoke to reporters outside Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze, yesterday.

"He's a good boy who had a great life ahead of him, and now he's not going to have that," his grandfather said, fighting emotion. "We're just happy he's alive."

Esposito, a habitual sketch artist, told relatives, "I'm just glad I still have my arms."