"All these angels, all these heroes came to my rescue," Michael Lodespoto said, shaking his head in disbelief.
With tears in his eyes and gratitude in his heart, Lodespoto recalls the moment just four days ago when his normal daily commute took a potentially fatal twist.
While standing on the platform at Atlantic Terminal in downtown Brooklyn, he suddenly felt dizzy and weak. He leaned against a column for support, but then blacked out.
"Next thing I remember I was being lifted up. A lot of shouting and another couple of hands behind me pulling me up on to the platform," he said.
Lodespoto had fallen four feet onto the tracks, but quick-thinking on-lookers rescued him and stayed there until emergency crews arrived to rush him to Kings County Hospital.
A bandage covers the stitched-up gash over his lip and there's a nasty bump on the back of his head.
While he calls escaping with only those injuries something of a miracle, Lodespoto says the kindness of strangers during those few fraught minutes on a subway platform was the real life-changer.
"I think I've been given a second chance in some ways," he said. "I would love to see each one face to face and give them a hug. I don't have much to offer except thank you."
