story11771.xml

story11771.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2005-08-26

On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, where my daughter Catherine had undergone two open heart surgeries a week and two weeks earlier. She was asleep and I was sitting next to her bed watching a morning news program on the TV. The program was interrupted to show the result of the first plane hitting the tower. It was shocking, but no one seemed to be thinking it was an attack. It wasn't long, maybe 20 or 30 minutes, when the second plane smashed into the other tower. Then it became evident this was no accident. The imploding of the two towers was unimaginable. I was riveted to the TV for the rest of the day and the subsequent days. I will always associate the two events, my daughter's heart surgeries and the 9-11 terrorist attacks.