09-11-14

In honor of the victims and heroes of 9/11, I will be going dark on my social media sites tomorrow. Not all of the victims died that day; many first responders died within a year of horrible and painful respiratory failure. I am in the 9/11 Health Registry and of course illnesses likely caused by the terrorist attacks still surface, especially cancer and major depression. My then seven year old niece attended PS 89 at the time and saw people jumping from the towers. Adults I know who saw that say they will never forget it. The worst for me was when my then five year old daughter told me that she was afraid that I had died and she would never see me again. I send special gratitude to the psychotherapists who counseled my children and other students. Volunteer lawyers helped families of the deceased to obtain death certificates so that wills, trusts and insurance policies could be processed; the line of volunteers wrapped around the block twice. I send more gratitude to the handlers of the brave rescue dogs who saved many lives. Many of the rescue dogs also died horrible deaths within one year from respiratory illness. But the USA is still here. And always will be.