I want to re-tell a story of someone (related to me) who accomplished not just one, but two heroic acts in life. I hadn't been that comfortable discussing him (other than with close friends) until last year because:
(a) Historically, I've been shy about tooting-the-horn of people in my family, and
(b) As a cousin-once-removed, he is not strongly related to me, plus
(c) I rarely met him (although his policeman brother Dennis I have met from-time-to-time and consider myself closer to) and so he's not that familiar to me, and finally
(d) I suppose, like many of us, I felt awkward about stepping forward in such a politicized atmosphere surrounding 9/11 (plus, I have no idea of this individual's politics).
But in the end, I realize that it was stupid of me to feel that way because - on this day five years later - it's important not to let our opponents claim ownership of 9/11.
(more after the jump).....
But also, because the 2nd act of heroism this individual undertook is something that we all could strive to match. It's one that I hope you'll consider, part of the reason why I'm re-publishing this diary (with some minor changes).
The man you are looking at was named Terry Farrell .....
...and he began his public service career as a transit police officer, with his specialty being disaster relief. He left law enforcement and, in the New York City Fire Department, he joined Rescue Company 4, an elite unit specially trained to do things like extricate people from collapsed buildings. In his spare time(?!?) he volunteered for the Dix Hills Fire Department, adjacent to his home in Huntington, Long Island.
Needless to say, his unit was one of the first on the scene that awful day; I've been told that "Terry lived for the chance to save people, it was what made his job meaningful to him". He was lost in the South Tower (WTC-2) and could well have been one of those whose body would never be recovered, we realized, as we waited for news.
Well, we were one of the lucky ones (awkward as that may be to say) as his body was found seven weeks later. It was intact enough to have allowed an open-casket funeral (though his family decided against it) and my brother Pat, a Long Island resident, attended his wake/funeral. He said that - because Terry had spent time both in the police and fire departments, "Ed, you can just imagine what the traffic was like trying to arrive there".
Now, it's here that the story of Terry Farrell might have ended. After all, he was only one of 342 firefighters (along with 60 police officers) who perished in the building collapse. And so - while he meant a lot to his friends, family and colleagues, as Michael Moore acknowledged in "Fahrenheit 911" - yours truly may not have written this diary, as his story was personal (I have no idea of Terry's political beliefs) or not applicable to many here (and let's hope to no one else ever again).
But it turned out that...........no, the story didn't end here. For he did something else that - from this vantage point - was even more heroic. That gives a new meaning to our opponents' "pre-911 thinking".
Mind you, it didn't involve anything as dangerous as entering a burning skyscraper, and the first step that he took may have not developed into anything; it may have ended there without anyone knowing about it. But someone like Terry might well have said about his final act on earth, "Hey, I volunteered for that unit, I always knew what could happen and that's what they paid me for". So what was his other act, you ask?
He volunteered to become a bone marrow donor, which he had no obligation to do, and a woman is now (or will be) 19 years old this year as a result. What's more, even his own family did not know that he had undergone the procedure (after being identified as a match) until they saw his name on TV - in the 1990's - as one whose act had saved a life.
In fact, back in 1994 when she was 6 years old, Chantyl Peterson and her family travelled to New York from Nevada to meet her donor. And......hold on to your hats........they had lunch.....on the 87th floor of......the World Trade Center.
They met again in 1999 and then, during the time when Terry was still listed as "missing", Chantyl told her mother that if he was found alive that "I'll tell him not to ever get hurt again."
When it turned out to be otherwise, her father told her the news and so she made a third trip in October of 2001 to read a prayer at his funeral as a 13 year-old.
And, to me, that's the even-more-important message from his life: volunteer to become a bone-marrow blood donor. I recall years ago reading of the agonizing story of the Hall of Fame baseball player Rod Carew whose daughter (finally) succumbed to luekemia ten years ago; they were never able to find a matching blood donor.
The same happened to the standout jazz saxophonist Michael Brecker (whose equally-famous trumpeter brother Randy was a founding member of Blood, Sweat & Tears).
As Lindsay Beyerstein - better known as the blogger Majikthise - wrote in 2005, he, too, needed a bone marrow transplant - but which never materialized, leading to his death this past January.
But - as a regular at "Cheers & Jeers", as some of you may know - mega, mega JEERS to Ed Tracey for having ignored the plight of others like Rod Carew and Michael Brecker until after I learned of the success that Terry Farrell had. I then volunteered to donate and join the registry (which was free at the center I visited, or one's insurance may cover). Perhaps 1-1/2 years ago, I was contacted as a possible match, and had a second blood drawing, which was sent off in an overnight express package that had been mailed to me.
I was subsequently told that - while I kinda/sorta matched the individual in question - others were better matches. So they said, "Thanks until next time". I can tell you that the two donations took little time and even less discomfort and - should I ever be in the position to donate - I'll be there.
You may never be in a position to have to respond to a tragedy like 9/11 and - if we can replace the clowns in Washington - hopefully we never will have to, again. But you can make a difference and - rather than hold any more tributes for someone who has nothing more left to give - contact these folks instead.
After all, I needed a lesson from a blood relative to do something. Somone wiser, like yourself, probably doesn't.