Indiana 10-Month-Old Survives 3-Story Fall

July 19--Tiesha Powell has a new nickname for her 10-month-old son: "Aladdin."

A friend suggested it after little Kyan survived a fall Tuesday morning from the family's third-floor apartment in Gary. A loose window screen had given way, according to authorities.

"He flew that screen from the roof," Powell said from her son's hospital room. "It probably slowed him down."

The boy, who is being treated at Comer Children's Hospital at the University of Chicago, is expected to make a full recovery, his mother said.

Doctors expected to move the child from intensive care to a regular room Wednesday evening after his condition had improved by afternoon. They will watch him for a few days, checking for internal bleeding, Powell said.

Kyan suffered a laceration to his liver and a bruise on his lung. Powell said blood tests did not find any problems, and tests on the boy's spine found no damage.

"He's going to be fine," she said. "I have a walking testimony of how good God is because it could have been worse than what it was."

Powell said she woke up about 6 a.m. Tuesday to make her son a bottle, and her 7-year-old daughter, Indigo, also woke up. The children were in Indigo's room watching television when Powell told them she was going to lie back down for a few minutes.

"I said, 'Are you guys OK? And (Indigo) said, 'Yea, mommy.' I said, 'Are you sure?' And she said, 'Yea,'" Powell said. "I said, 'OK, mommy's going to go lay down. If you need me just come and get me.'"

Powell said both she and her daughter must have dozed off because the next thing she heard was knocking on her door. A downstairs neighbor had heard the boy crying outside her bedroom. Luckily, the boy landed on the lawn, and the grass must have cushioned his fall.

When the neighbor found him, Kyan was on his knees but no bones were broken, Powell said.

"We're still not sure if he landed on his back or on his stomach or on his knees," she said. "I really do (feel lucky) because I hear stories all the time about kids who have fallen one floor, two floors, even three floors like my son did, and they lost their lives."

The neighbor called for an ambulance, and Gary police were called in to investigate. Gary police Cpl. Gabrielle King called the fall an "unfortunate accident" -- not a result of neglect.

Powell said she had to go to the Police Department for questioning after the accident and couldn't go straight to the hospital. She said Indiana child protection officials also investigated and, while her home was inspected, she had to wait in a jail cell.

"They were doing their job. You hear about people who were abusing their children every day," Powell said. "The only thing I hate was, while I was waiting to speak to a detective, they had me sitting in a jail cell like a criminal."

Powell's mother is taking care of Indigo while Powell stays at her son's bedside.

"This is truly my miracle baby," she said. "Just to know my son fell three stories and he's still here, I'm blessed."

csadovi@tribune.com

Copyright 2012 - Chicago Tribune