The father of the 10-year-old boy who was injured by flying debris following the deadly plane crash in Northeast Philadelphia revealed his son’s first words after undergoing brain surgery.
Andre “Trey” Howard III was injured on Friday, Jan. 31, when a medical transport jet crashed by the Roosevelt Mall, injuring at least 24 people and killing seven, including all six passengers on board and one person on the ground.
Trey was struck in the head with metal and was taken to Jefferson Torresdale Hospital, where he underwent brain surgery. The young boy’s family was informed that there “was a strong chance he might not survive.”
But miraculously, he woke up and quickly asked about two pressing matters: his sister’s safety and the upcoming Super Bowl between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs.
“He asked me, ‘Daddy, what’s today?’ I was like, ‘Monday.’ ‘OK, wait. We didn’t play yesterday did we?’ ‘No, you didn’t miss the Super Bowl,’ ” father Andre Howard Jr. told ABC News.
Trey then asked: “Daddy, did I save my sister?”
“It had me crying,” Andre said.
“‘You told us to get down. I was just trying to help my sister … next thing I know, I thought I died,’ ” Trey said in the hospital, according to Andre.
At the time of the accident, Trey and his younger siblings, ages 4 and 7, were in the car with their father picking up donuts. “Sounded like a missile was firing bullets, metal at my car, everyone else’s car,” Andre told ABC6. “You see a car on fire, a man walking on fire. It was just crazy.”
But as the debris flew everywhere, Trey told his sister, “ ‘Get down,’ ” Andre recalled. “And he grabs her, I hear the glass shatter. I turn around, there’s a piece of metal sticking out of my son’s head from the plane.”
Andre then tried to stop the bleeding with a pair of used socks and another man’s shirt. The police then rushed the boy and his family to the hospital, where he received emergency surgery.
“They did an A+ job on my son. Praise God, they did a great job,” Andre said of his son’s surgery.
Andre added that “it’s bittersweet” that Trey saved his sister. “I’m glad he listened but that’s my job, not his job, to protect his sister,” Andre said.
After Trey woke up, one of his favorite NBA players, 76ers Tyrese Maxey, paid him a visit at the hospital. “He says thank you to everybody. He cries, ‘Daddy, I’m a celebrity.’ ‘No, you’re bigger than a celebrity. You’re a superhero,'” Andre said.
Trey is now recovering at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
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The family created a GoFundMe to pay for Trey’s medical expenses not covered by insurance, as well as for his rehabilitation and physical therapy.
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