There Were Others

I've been following this story on 1010WINS for the past several weeks... a woman who was standing on the sidewalk outside the WTC was doused with burning jet fuel and burned over 90% of her body. The doctors told her family that she wouldn't survive more than 36 hours but this Monday, when I finally told Eric about the story, 6 weeks had passed and she was still fighting to survive. She died Monday night. She was from our neighborhood and her name is Jennianne Maffeo 40 yrs. old. She found her way into the Marriott Hotel and collapsed. The people in the hotel wanted to help her but because her body was so burned, they didn't know where to touch her to help her get up. She told them that she would get up on her own -- which she did. Here is the story from today's Daily News..... WTC Burn Victim Loses Fight To Live A Brooklyn woman who survived a flaming cascade of jet fuel in the World Trade Center disaster and asked her family to thank the man who first helped her died after a struggle to recover from head-to-toe burns. Jennieann Maffeo of Brooklyn, a 40-year-old senior associate in systems development at UBS PaineWebber, died Monday night at the burn unit of Weill Cornell Medical Center. "I am saddened to tell you that, after a six-week battle to overcome the injuries she suffered on Sept. 11, our colleague Jennieann Maffeo has lost her fight for life," UBS PaineWebber Chairman Joseph Grano said in a memo to employees at the brokerage giant. Maffeo's ordeal began when she was engulfed by burning fuel and debris from the hijacked airliner that hit the north tower as she waited for a bus on West St. Architect Ronnie Clifford, who had just stepped into the lobby of the Marriott hotel alongside the north tower, narrowly avoiding the shower of burning fuel, saw what happened to Maffeo and rushed to her aid. Clifford, 47, later described how Maffeo struggled to stand though her face was entirely burned, her fingernails were melted and her clothing was charred onto her skin. He shielded her with his coat, prayed with her and administered oxygen from a hotel medical kit, then helped her to an ambulance, he told Time magazine. After she had been taken away, shreds of Maffeo's seared flesh clung to his coat, he said. In a further cruel turn of events, Clifford, of Glen Ridge, N.J., would learn that his sister, Ruth McCourt, 45, and his niece Juliana, 4, had been on United Airlines Flight 175, which crashed into the World Trade Center's south tower. A family friend, Paige Hackel, 46, also was killed. She was supposed to meet McCourt in Los Angeles but traveled separately — on the American Airlines flight that crashed into the north tower. Though Maffeo's burns were so severe that her family had to wear hospital scrubs to visit her, she insisted they reach out to thank the man who had helped her, Clifford said. Maffeo was an enthusiastic cyclist and had been very active in volunteer work. She helped students at Thomas Edison School in Union, N.J., as part of a company-sponsored reading program and worked with the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. "She will be greatly missed," Grano said. "Her family has suffered a great loss, and our prayers and support are with them." Maffeo is survived by her mother, father, sister and brother. A wake will be held from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. tomorrow and Friday at Scarpaci Funeral Home, 1401 86th St., Brooklyn. A Mass will be said Saturday at 9 a.m. at St. Mary's Catholic Church, 23rd Ave. and 85th St., Brooklyn. http://www.nydailynews.com/2001-10-24/News_and_Views/City_Beat/a-129631.asp

Formatted for easier reading. These people will definitely be in my prayers.

WTC Burn Victim
Loses Fight to Live

By STEVE McFARLAND
Daily News Staff Writer

Brooklyn woman who survived a flaming cascade of jet fuel in the World Trade Center disaster and asked her family to thank the man who first helped her died after a struggle to recover from head-to-toe burns.

Jennieann Maffeo of Brooklyn, a 40-year-old senior associate in systems development at UBS PaineWebber, died Monday night at the burn unit of Weill Cornell Medical Center.

"I am saddened to tell you that, after a six-week battle to overcome the injuries she suffered on Sept. 11, our colleague Jennieann Maffeo has lost her fight for life," UBS PaineWebber Chairman Joseph Grano said in a memo to employees at the brokerage giant.

Maffeo's ordeal began when she was engulfed by burning fuel and debris from the hijacked airliner that hit the north tower as she waited for a bus on West St.

Architect Ronnie Clifford, who had just stepped into the lobby of the Marriott hotel alongside the north tower, narrowly avoiding the shower of burning fuel, saw what happened to Maffeo and rushed to her aid.

Clifford, 47, later described how Maffeo struggled to stand though her face was entirely burned, her fingernails were melted and her clothing was charred onto her skin.

He shielded her with his coat, prayed with her and administered oxygen from a hotel medical kit, then helped her to an ambulance, he told Time magazine. After she had been taken away, shreds of Maffeo's seared flesh clung to his coat, he said.

In a further cruel turn of events, Clifford, of Glen Ridge, N.J., would learn that his sister, Ruth McCourt, 45, and his niece Juliana, 4, had been on United Airlines Flight 175, which crashed into the World Trade Center's south tower.

A family friend, Paige Hackel, 46, also was killed. She was supposed to meet McCourt in Los Angeles but traveled separately — on the American Airlines flight that crashed into the north tower.

Though Maffeo's burns were so severe that her family had to wear hospital scrubs to visit her, she insisted they reach out to thank the man who had helped her, Clifford said.

Maffeo was an enthusiastic cyclist and had been very active in volunteer work. She helped students at Thomas Edison School in Union, N.J., as part of a company-sponsored reading program and worked with the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation.

"She will be greatly missed," Grano said. "Her family has suffered a great loss, and our prayers and support are with them."

Maffeo is survived by her mother, father, sister and brother. A wake will be held from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. tomorrow and Friday at Scarpaci Funeral Home, 1401 86th St., Brooklyn. A Mass will be said Saturday at 9 a.m. at St. Mary's Catholic Church, 23rd Ave. and 85th St., Brooklyn.

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