Two days after September 11, 2001, my husband Tom walked through the door, his red hair was now topped in fine, white powder which trailed down his neck and onto his shoulders. "Snowmen" is what the media called the people covered in the pulverized concrete and various debris from the collapsed Twin Towers. Tom was a construction superintendent and working on the roof of an adjacent building when the first plane hit the north tower, he left the area soon after the second plane hit. As he fled, the north tower had begun to collapse, catching him and many others in its thick, cloudy aftermath.
A year ago (March 2024) I had an emergency surgery to fix severe fluid buildup (pleural effusion) in my chest from cancer radiation. My hospital roommate had a perforated bowel from cancer and she was relentlessly cheerful. By Suzette Martinez Standring
Lt. Fire Inspector Chris Wyman and the late Ret. Lt. Jessica L. Wyman were husband and wife, career firefighters, and soulmates. It was his unbearable loss when Jessica passed away from occupational lung cancer. She was the first female firefighter to be promoted to lieutenant of the Nashua (NH) fire department. Chris, Lieutenant/Fire Inspector for the Merrimack, NH Fire Department, tells her story. By Suzette Martinez Standring
