Eleven years ago today, Pasquale Buzzelli survived the attacks of Sept. 11 when he rode a wave of debris as he fell 20 stories inside the tumbling World Trade Center North Tower.
I remember hearing this story in the days after 9/11. Everyone talked about it for a while, and then the news reports quits calling it hearsay and started reporting it as fiction. And then it fell out of the news; everyone assumed it was an urban legend, or a hoax.
There is a documentary out now, featuring Buzzelli, his family, first responders and others. And apparently, it actually did happen. He has come forward to tell his story in a Discovery channel special, “The 9/11 Surfer."
He and his wife, Louise, have written an e-book, “The True Story of the 9/11 Surfer: We All Fall Down.’’
“It was very difficult telling the story then,’’ Buzzelli told Savannah Guthrie on The Today Show. “I couldn’t. I was going through post-traumatic stress and survivor guilt from that. It took a long time to heal from that. I forced myself to do that, to try to give something back. Eventually I came to accept what had happened to me. I was able to go on and mourn. I feel now that it’s an important story to share with others.’’
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I really encourage everyone to check out Pasquale and Louise's book, WE ALL FALL DOWN. I have edited hundreds of books during my career, but this is the first one that ever brought a tear to my eye. Truly, it's a miraculous story about an extraordinary couple. www.911surfer.com, or visit Amazon.com for the ebook. I don't usually post things like this, but it truly is a beautiful book filled with emotion.
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