ALIZAE MOSCONI - 2 yo - Rochester/New Brighton (NW of Pittsburgh) PA

Alizae Mosconi, just shy of 2, is a fighter, family members say.

They remain hopeful she can overcome multiple broken bones, brain
swelling, a broken eye socket, a torn spleen and other injuries suffered
when a relative dropped her from a third-floor window just over a week
ago, according to police.

"She's doing wonderful," said Alizae's mother, Beth Newman, 24, of
Rochester. "She's talking. She had mashed potatoes, pudding and peas for
dinner yesterday.

"She's a little fighter. She's feisty and lovable."


Doctors at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh upgraded Alizae's
condition on Wednesday to fair and moved her from the intensive care
unit to a private room. But they have not determined when she can go
home or whether she'll suffer permanent damage.

"I try not to ask the question because I'm usually bawling," said her great-grandmother, Donna Fisher, 68, of Rochester.

Alizae was hospitalized Aug. 25. Police said a distant cousin dropped
her out of a window at the Brightwood Manor Housing Complex. The woman
wanted to "teach her a lesson," police said. After a struggle, Alizae
fell 21 feet to a sidewalk.

New Brighton police charged Terra Hill, 27, of East Liverpool, Ohio,
with aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and endangering the
welfare of a child. She told police that she dangled Alizae from the
window after the child hit her with a ball.

During a preliminary hearing on Thursday, District Judge Tim Finn of
Brighton Township held Hill for court. She remains in the Beaver County
jail.

Friends and family sit with Alizae as she recovers. She watches
cartoons with her good eye -- "SpongeBob SquarePants" is her favorite --
and listens to music.

"She's asked for pop. She wanted her shoes," Fisher said. "We can't
figure out why because she usually doesn't want to wear them."

Alizae no longer wears a neck brace, and she pulls herself up in bed,
her mother said. Casts on her arms are uncomfortable. Newman left the
hospital only once -- to attend Hill's hearing.

Newman, mother to Haleigh, 5, and Laura, 3 months, said support from people is overwhelming.

"I really don't think she would have pulled through without
everyone's prayers," she said. "People I don't even know tell me they're
praying for her."

Fisher said she "stammers for words" when trying to talk about the incident.

"I grew up in a different world than what's in the world today," she said.

Newman calls it "the type of stuff you see on the news and say, 'If that ever happened to me ...'

"It did happen to me. It's hard," she said. "I thank God for my family."

A family friend established the Alizae C. Mosconi Fund at Citizens Bank to help defray medical costs.

Read more: Doctors upgrade 'little fighter' from Rochester to 'fair condition' - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/regional/s_754600.html#ixzz1Wr9vsOQo