A Polk County lineman returned home Sunday after being hospitalized in Puerto Rico.

  • Cameron Alley fell about 80 feet from a helicopter
  • His father says Cameron has a long road to recovery
  • He credits work of paramedics in helping his son

While Cameron Alley, a father of five, was working in the mountains in Puerto Rico to restore power, his father Dan Alley said he fell from a cable suspended from a helicopter.

"We had heard on Facebook that Cameron had fallen 80 feet from a helicopter. And it was three hours ... for three hours we thought he was gone," Dan Alley said.

Dan said he learned his son survived thanks to the help of his coworker and the Puerto Ricans in the area.

"The local people had seen what happened. They rushed up the mountain. They made a chain of 60 people, all the way down that mountain," Alley said. "I'm sure they had a board or stoke basket that they rescued him in."

He and his wife returned to Lakeland on a private flight Sunday afternoon. His family got to see him before he was rushed to the hospital.

"He was smiling and he was talking perfectly awake and aware of everything,” said Dan Alley.

Dan said Cameron has a long road to recovery.

"He's got multiple broken bones in his hand, his stream, his hips," he said.

Paramedics rushed Cameron Alley to Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center.

"These people are being so good to him. The doctor came down here and met him. He didn't have to do that. They got the trauma center ready for him at the hospital," Dan Alley said.

He said his son is strong and this isn't his first near death experience. Dan said his son survived an electric shock while on the job and he also survived a motorcycle crash involving a semi.

Alley said the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 222 has been helping the family throughout this entire process. He was grateful for their help.