A miracle: Critically injured PMA cadet comes out of coma

Cadet 1st Class Alfonso Aviles

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Military Academy cadet who was shot when he tried to prevent a robber in Quezon City two weeks ago has come out of his coma  and has been transferred to a regular room, the military said Monday.

Cadet Alfonso Aviles’ recovery had been a “miracle” according to his physician, said Lizzie de Jesus of the V Luna Medical Center.

“A miracle happened …the patient fought to live,” she told reporters in a phone interview.

“Aviles is on his way to recovery, and he has been transferred from ICU to regular room in AFP Medical Center. He is out of coma already. There is movement in right part of body (and) close and opening of his right eye,” military spokesman Colonel Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos told reporters in a press briefing.

Meanwhile, the bullet lodged in his shoulder will be left undisturbed and will be allowed to break the surface naturally, according to Burgos, adding the cadet will also undergo physical therapy.

“It may be risky to work on it at this time,” Burgos said.

Aviles was moved out of from the intensive care unit to a regular room on Saturday.

A member of the Philippine Military Academy Class of 2013, Aviles was on a passenger jeepney when an unidentified man declared holdup at the corner of Regalado and Mindanao Avenue in Greater Lagro village on August 25.The cadet tried to prevent the robbery and got shot in the neck and shoulder.

He was in Manila to serve as a proctor for the PMA entrance examination. He was granted a “pass” by his officer-in-charge to visit his family in Bulacan and was on his way back to the billeting area when the incident happened.