Window washer Alcides Moreno, 37, who miraculously survived after falling 47 stories from a high-rise apartment building on the Upper East Side on December 7, was released from New York Presbyterian Hospital/ Weill Cornell Medical Center Friday to begin rehabilitation.

Alcides and his brother Edgar, 30 were washing windows when they fell 47 stories from an Upper East Side apartment building on December 7. The 16-foot scaffolding he was on with his brother fell because cables connecting it to the roof failed, media sources quoted officials at the time. Edgar, Moreno’s brother, did not survive the accident.

Moreno broke both legs, an arm and a wrist and suffered brain and spinal injuries, doctors at New York Weill Cornell Medical Center told back then. He was still conscious when an ambulance arrived. The man was given approximately 24 pints of blood and 19 pints of plasma and underwent an operation to open his abdomen in the emergency room. Doctors reportedly did not wish to take any risks by moving him into an operating room. He remained in a coma at the hospital.

Moreno spoke his first words on Christmas Day, asking his wife, “What did I do?” A few days later, his youngest son Andrew was allowed to see him for the first time since the accident and said “I miss you,” the Daily News reported at the time.

During a news conference this month, doctors said they were puzzled by Moreno’s case. Dr. Philip Barie, who heads the hospital’s critical care division, said Moreno apparently did not hit his head when he landed.

Brian Schwartz, professor of physics at the Graduate Center of City University of New York believes that the scaffolding beneath Moreno created enough wind resistance to slow his fall speed from 100 mph to 45 mph.  That reduced the impact, making it more like an eight-story fall. And still this would be enough to kill most people.

“You get above six stories, it gets unusual. You get above 10 stories, it’s rare. We’ve had two people survive 12, one person survive 14 and one person survive 19. Forty-seven stories is uncharted territory,” said Dr. Barie quoted by Bloomberg.

Moreno underwent 16 operations, including 10 orthopedic operations at the hospital during the six weeks he was hospitalized. At the rehabilitation center, which identity has not been made public at the request of Moreno’s family, the staff “may work with balance and coordination” and get him on his feet again and make him “stand and literally take it one step at a time.” Dr. Barie said.