Seasonal & Holidays
After 504 Days Hospitalized, Baby Who Survived Arson Returns Home
Liam, 2, is the sole survivor of an arson last year in Queens that killed three of his family members.
EAST ELMHURST, QUEENS — On Thanksgiving Day, Denise Moreno put a sampling of turkey, mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes into a blender. She had a special guest to feed, and he wasn't yet ready for solid food.
In puréed fashion, her godson, 2-year-old Liam, enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner in East Elmhurst.
He was many miles away from the hospital room where he spent his last Thanksgiving, recovering from an arson that left his body 95-percent burned — and of which he was the sole survivor.
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The fire on July 10, 2019, raged through the East Elmhurst home where Rafelina and Raul Moreno had been hosting their relatives visiting from the Dominican Republic, including Liam, then just 10 months old.
Liam's mother, sister and grandfather were killed. So was the spiteful houseguest who started the fire after the Morenos told him to leave.
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Liam spent the next 504 days hospitalized. He was flown to a hospital in Texas, then to another in Boston. He made it through nearly three-dozen surgeries and fought off a bout of pneumonia. On a GoFundMe page, his godmother documented each step.
The day before Thanksgiving, he was discharged.
"He proves that every day is a miracle," his godmother, Denise, told Patch. "We've got a long way to go, but we're thankful for the point we've come to."
The fire-stricken house on 93rd Street has been reincarnated, brought back from the ashes.
What was the dining room is now Liam's bedroom. His new adoptive parents, Rafelina and Raul, are sleeping on an inflatable mattress next to his bed while work continues on the rest of the house.
Several days a week, Liam will return to Shriner's Hospital in Boston to continue physical therapy and begin speech therapy.
"He's showed so much perseverance, especially now with everything that's going on," Moreno said. "You look at him, and it's like, 'We can do this. We're going to be okay.'"
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