'Angels caught me': Boy thrown from mall balcony walking normally, family friend says

[TexasTowelie]

A 5-year-old boy who was thrown from a third-floor balcony at the Mall of America in Minnesota is walking normally again seven months after the attack.

That's according to an update posted Friday by family friend Noah Hanneman on a GoFundMe page which has raised more than $1 million for the boy and his family.

The boy, identified by the page and in court as Landen, fell about 40 feet on April 12 after he was grabbed at random by Emmanuel Aranda.

Aranda has since pleaded guilty to attempted premeditated first-degree murder and been sentenced to 19 years in prison. He told investigators he went to the mall “looking for someone to kill.”

But after a lengthy hospitalization and multiple physical therapies, the boy is beginning to return to a normal life, according to Hanneman.

Read more: https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/nation/2019/11/23/boy-thrown-off-mall-america-balcony-walking-normally-family-friend/4284232002/

[rampartc]

1. 7 year olds are very resilient, modern medicine can appear miraculous

and 7 months of physical therapy took character and determination as well as some great therapists. but supernatural beings? i'm skeptical.

btw, does 19 tears seem like enough for someone compelled to enter a mall “looking for someone to kill?” my first questions for the prosecutor regard his sanity.

[secondwind]

2. I agree. Asperger's Syndrome comes to mind.

AS is in the spectrum of autism. There have been serial killers who had some form of AS.

[rampartc]

3. maybe. i was thinking more like schizophrenia

but certainly something that needs a good look by a court appointed expert.

[Lucky Luciano]

6. Yes. 19 years seems very soft unless he is committed to a mental institution afterwards.

[dflprincess]

8. Not once since this happened has an article quoted a member of the child's family as

thanking the staff at Children's Hospital for saving him. Not even a "We thank God for the skill of the doctors and nurses..."

[rampartc]

9. at least they did seek medical care

rather than making the child lay broken until the nearest evangelist could lay on hands.

[hlthe2b]

4. I hope the child is likewise getting some psychological counseling...

Kids are resilient, yes, but this is the kind of thing that may lay dormant in his mind for years, yet cause lasting trauma.

[Mike Nelson]

5. That's great! ...but

... a miracle attended by angels would mean he got up and walked normally right away - no months of healing and physical therapies would be necessary.

[marble falls]

7. I know, falling forty feet and surviving and recovering quickly seem so lame for a miracle ...

and where were the chorus of angels?