ANTHONY ALVARADO: A Stroke
Strengthened Him
Anthony
Alvarado lived for his son. He suffered a stroke when his
son was a newborn, and was paralyzed on his right side
and lost his memory. It was as if he were a child again,
said his mother, Sonia Irizarry. He could speak Spanish,
his first language, but had forgotten English.
Ms. Irizarry nursed her son back to health. "Little by
little, he came back," she said. After that, Mr. Alvarado
could not take his baby for granted.
As the boy, Anthony Joshua Alvarado, now 10, grew
older, his father took him everywhere. They walked to
Yankee Stadium, not far from their apartment in the
Bronx, for baseball games. They played dominoes, they
went to the movies, to two amusement parks and to the
beach. "My son is a good son, a good dad, a good
grandson, a good brother, a good friend," Ms. Irizarry
said.
Mr. Alvarado, 31, worked for Forte Food Services, in
the cafeteria at Cantor Fitzgerald at 1 World Trade
Center. He had planned to interview for another job as a
security guard. "He needed more money," his mother said.
After all, he had a son to support.
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