Man injured in sword attack thanks emergency services for saving his life

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

A man injured in the sword attack in east London has thanked the emergency services and his family for saving his life.

Henry De Los Rios Polania, 35, an IT engineer from Hainault, is currently in hospital after being stabbed in his home on Tuesday morning.

Mr De Los Rios Polania was described by his sister, Jessica De Los Rios, 31, as a “hero” for protecting his family from the assailant.

He has since shared a photo to social media from his hospital bed, with a message thanking those who saved his life.

“I would like to start by thanking all the nurses, paramedics, and the doctors on the NHS for keeping me alive,” he said in a post to Instagram Stories, also sending gratitude to the police “for risking their lives”.

He also thanked “friends and family” and all those who made sure he did not “bleed out”.

Mr De Los Rios Polania added: “I’m recovering. I have a long journey ahead but I’m very positive that this trauma will end soon.”

Marcus Arduini Monzo, 36, a dual Spanish-Brazilian national living in Newham, east London, has appeared in court accused of murdering Daniel Anjorin as he was walking to school on Tuesday, and injuring four other people.

Ms De Los Rios previously told the PA news agency that her brother was recovering in hospital after sustaining a deep wound to his hand.

“It’s a very long process to get his hand recovered, due to this wound,” she said, adding: “He’s awake, he’s in hospital,” but “he lost a lot of blood” and “it’s going to be a really long, traumatising recovery for him.”

“He’s very devastated to believe something like this could happen,” she said, adding: “To us, he’s our hero. He protected them – my niece and my sister-in-law.

“They were just literally sleeping, opened their eyes to see a man with a big machete sword.

“He felt helpless in the moment but to us he is our hero. It could have been extremely worse.”

Mr De Los Rios Polania and his family are originally from Colombia but have lived in the UK for several years.