A window washer who fell 11 stories from the top of a building in San Francisco last month is on his way to recovery, but his family says they are struggling to make ends meet without his steady paycheck.

Pedro Perez, 58, was released from the hospital just in time to spend Christmas with his family, but the extensive injuries he suffered from his fall will require months of rehabilitation and he may never walk again, his wife Marciela told reporters through a translator at a press conference Monday.

See also: Window washers rescued from 68th floor of One World Trade Center

Union representative Colin O'Leary said worker's compensation is expected to cover Perez's medical costs. But with Perez out of work for the foreseeable future, the family is looking for help to pay for rent, utilities and school supplies.

The family set up a page on the crowdfunding platform GoFundMe with a $20,000 target, and on Tuesday, the amount raised had already more than doubled the goal. At 2 p.m. on Monday, the fund had garnered $1,100 in donations. By 12:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday it had reached $50,200.

Marciella works a night shift at a factory in the East Bay, and the couple's 19-year old daughter has dropped out of college to support the family. But even that is not nearly enough to cover the cost of living, according to O'Leary. Perez's 16 and 11-year old daughters cannot be expected to carry the financial burden.

"It's not easy to be here asking for help," Marciella said on Monday. "But Pedro was always a very hard worker, and he was the one helping us make ends meet."

The accident happened at around 10 a.m. on Nov. 21 in San Francisco's downtown Financial District. Perez fell from the roof of a high-rise and landed on the back of a moving car, shattering the glass but leaving the driver uninjured.

He suffered brain trauma, a fractured pelvis, a broken arm, a ruptured artery in his arm and deep internal hemorrhaging.

A pair of San Francisco police officers look over the scene where a window washer fell 11 stories onto a moving car Friday, Nov. 21, 2014, in San Francisco. Police said the San Francisco window washer has survived the fall. The man, whose name and age were not immediately available, was transported to a hospital with critical injuries. Image: Eric Risberg/Associated Press

Marciella said she was told that her husband had died during the first call she received after the accident, and it was not until she was on her way to the city that she got another call informing her that her that he had survived. Perez was placed into a coma for a week following the fall; doctors expected that he would be hospitalized for months.

Marciella told reporters Monday that her husband is in good spirits now, and even talking about eventually going back to work — though not as a window washer.

She said he initially had trouble recognizing family members, but now his memory is beginning to return. He is still unable to move his right arm and leg.

"Pedro’s recovery has begun, and despite the sheer miracle that he has begun conversing with others and that the strength of his memory is returning, his road to recovery will be a long and arduous one," the crowdfunding page reads.

Perez was an employee at Century Window Cleaning based in Concord, California, according to Julia Bernstein, a spokesperson for the California Department of Industrial Relations. Bernstein said the state division of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is in the process of investigating whether any safety regulations were violated in the accident.

Century Window Cleaning was previously cited for three violations in 2008 and fined just over $2,700, according to state records. Only one of these citations was labelled a serious violation, and it was related to the company instructing and supervising the proper use of safety equipment by window washing employees.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

This story was updated on Tuesday, Dec. 23 at 12:30 p.m. PST to reflect the new total amount raised and information on the state investigation.