I was working at the Pentagon on 9/11/01 as Human Resource for Military Personnel. I felt a big “thud” like an earthquake, then our double door blasted with fire and black smoke. There were times when I almost gave up because I cannot breath and I think I lose my sense of hearing. I screamed and yelled for help, luckily a military person heard my voice and found my hands. We crawl for such a long time that my knees suffered lacerations. I didn’t feel any pain during the crawling time, I guess my adrenalin was up. We met some people who were also crawling, but the soot was so bad that I felt very weak and sleepy. He kept on waking me up and finally when our group found a room with copying machines, they threw one of the machines, then, we felt some air coming from outside.

When the military personnel told us that there are people who are going to catch us below, we didn’t hesitate at all. One by one we jumped, but they missed to catch me. So I fell standing up and compoundedly fractured my femur.
A good Samaritan with a van volunteered to take me to Virginia Hospital right away for surgery. When I woke up in the ICU I can’t believed the amount of black smoke taken from my lungs.

If I didn’t survived 9/11 I won’t be able to feel how it is to be a grandma. My husband and I will be celebrating our 42nd anniversary this year.

Thank God for my second chance to live.