Angel in the Rubble: The Miraculous Rescue of 9/11's Last Survivor

Product Information

Osborn’s unit soon shipped out to Iraq. A few weeks later came the startling moment when the young soldier called his father to let him know where he was: in the same forward operating base in western Iraq where his stepfather had served years before. Not all rumors hurriedly spread in the wake of a tragedy are exaggerations of the horror that was or vocalizations of fears of things potentially to come — some are expressions of hope.

a b c Domel, August Jr. (November 2001). "World Trade Center Disaster: Structural Engineers at Ground Zero" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on December 14, 2006 . Retrieved December 12, 2006. Manhattan is an island..." harborheroes.com. John J. Harvey. August 14, 2002. Archived from the original on May 4, 2009 . Retrieved September 12, 2014. [ non-primary source needed] Genelle Guzman-McMillan Less than two months after she was pulled from the rubble, Genelle Guzman-McMillan married her boyfriend, Roger, at New York City Hall. Allegretti, Thomas (September 11, 2014). "Remembering the heroes of the 9/11 boatlift". The Hill. Archived from the original on September 13, 2014 . Retrieved September 12, 2014.Anthony DePalma (May 14, 2007). "Ground Zero Illness Clouding Giuliani's Legacy". New York Times. Archived from the original on September 22, 2018 . Retrieved April 21, 2019. It didn’t last. One afternoon, about four weeks after her husband’s departure, the door buzzer sounded . Historic Fireboat Aids in New York City Response and Recovery at the World Trade Center". fireboat.org. November 1, 2001. Archived from the original on October 4, 2009 . Retrieved September 12, 2014. [ non-primary source needed] It took an eternity, it seemed, to free her body, as rescue workers had to work carefully to remove steel and concrete without sending more rubble crashing on top of her. Once at the hospital, Guzman faced weeks of surgery to repair her crushed legs. Her doctors warned that she might lose her left leg, which had suffered traumatic tissue damage. Yet, the leg healed after multiple operations, and soon she was able to walk normally, with only a slight limp. Her medical exams revealed the existence of two serious conditions that had previously gone unnoticed: a heart arrhythmia, severe enough to cause fainting spells, and an abnormal growth on her cervix that frequently develops into cancer. Undetected, either might eventually have killed her. Instead, they were spotted and treated during her hospital stay. Guzman learned that her 9/11 injuries possibly saved her life.

Adding to the belief in this tale was a lengthy article titled "Ground Zero" which ran in the 24 September 2001 issue of Newsweek. In it, the story of rescue workers hearing from an unnamed detective about a Port Authority police officer fell with the building from above the 80th floor and survived with just a broken leg was aired. Also, Dr. Kenneth Tesla, a surgeon who had treated two Port Authority workers, was quoted as saying both of these men had survived falls from the 86th floor. Stewart and others repeated their pitch to Portman while Pfeifer sat in his chair, nodding and occasionally chiming in, never yielding as much as an inch of space that might have given the senator a chance to slip away. “He didn’t have to show histrionics. He didn’t have to yell. He didn’t have to scream,” Stewart said. “He sat, his body becoming as big as a boulder, and people wouldn’t get by until they looked him in the eye. And it was magic.”

A 'GUARDIAN ANGEL'

Silver Eagle 9-11-01 WTC Ground Zero Recovery PCGS MS69". PCGS. Archived from the original on October 8, 2019 . Retrieved October 8, 2019. New Jersey Legislature Honors Amateur Radio's 9/11 Role". www.eham.net. Archived from the original on August 28, 2012 . Retrieved April 8, 2018.