Posted on 12/21/2001 6:50:05 AM PST by dead
The memorial service for fireman Peter Nelson inside Fire Rescue Company 4's station house on New York's Long Island had just begun when Gigi Nelson felt her first contractions.
Lyndi Ann Nelson had chosen to come into the world at the very moment her mother was saying a final goodbye to her father, one of the World Trade Centre heroes.
She breathed through the pain as the 1,500 firefighters surrounding the suburban fire station paid tribute to her husband, who had been lost in the September 11 attacks. And moments after the service, Mrs Nelson was taken to hospital where she gave birth to her daughter.
It was a poignant convergence of life and death as New York continues to rise from the ruins of the attacks.
"You know what I hope for?" Mrs Nelson said, as she gathered this week for a photo shoot with 15 women who have given birth since losing husbands in the tragedy.
"That she has her father's heart and his spirit, just the way he was about life. Peter lived life the way it's supposed to be, caring and loving and putting others first, in every aspect."
The mothers were brought together for the first time by television presenter Diane Sawyer for a World Trade Centre TV special.
They are something of an overlooked group among the vast toll of casualties wrought by the attacks. Their 17 babies, including one set of twins, represent about a fifth of the estimated 100 children or more who will be born without fathers as a result of the terrorist strikes.
The World Trade Centre firm of Cantor Fitzgerald alone estimates that 60 wives of its missing employees have either given birth or soon will.
"I still have a hard time believing that it's happened," said LaChanze Gooding, who gave birth to a daughter four weeks after her husband, Calvin, died on the 104th floor of Tower One.
"I'm just trying to keep going and make sure I have something happy to share with my daughters, so they don't see a sad mummy all the time."
Baraheen Ashrafi's pain is particularly deep. Her husband, Mohammad, who had a master's degree in physics from their native Bangladesh, died while working as a waiter at the Windows on the World restaurant on top of Tower One.
Mrs Ashrafi, a Muslim who covers her head with a scarf, gave birth to a son, Farqad, just days after the attacks.
"Two days ago, I was in Manhattan," she told the other mothers as they gathered for the photo. "People were teasing me ... but people don't realise, don't understand what I have inside. I am the victim also."
The women have now formed a sisterhood in their grief that they hope to carry through for years to come, sharing photos of their children and memories of their spouses.
"On my own, I'm a woman who lost my husband and my children lost their daddy," Mrs Ashrafi said. "But in here, 16 babies and their mummies are just like me. It's so sad."
All the women showed are heroes in their own right.
May God Bless them and their families.
If they'd make superjumbo boxes of kleenex, I'd be saving myself a lot of money. This one devastated me--especially when they showed the side by side pictures of the babies with their fathers and how much they looked alike.
The story on NBC about the 10 year old who hadn't smiled much since he lost his firefighting dad on 9/11 & got a trip to Yankee Stadium to meet the grump, Joe Torre was great, too---BUT I hope to hell the Yankees (and other sports teams) don't forget about these kids in years to come.
~to me the story was about tragedy and triumph and heroes of all kinds.
The joy and the sorrow so closely entwined.
I pray the Lord watches over all those mother's and their children and
continues to support them in their darkest hours.
The LORD replied: "My son, My precious child, I love you and I would never
leave you, During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of
footprints, it was then that I carried you."
There are actually 16 new mothers plus Sawyer. The one in the back middle appears to be Middle Eastern.
Amen.
And I should add she's the only who looks totally uncomfortable. At least in this small picture all the rest, except for her and the second lady from the left in the second row, are actually smiling.
She said she was uncomfortable, but also said people had harassed her because of her religion/dress--without knowing she, too, lost a husband in the WTC.
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