WTC widow follows fatal path of Bravest hubby, runs in memorial 5K
Sunday, September 28th 2008, 7:32 PM
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Firefighter Jack Medina runs with an American flag in full gear to honor firefighter Stephen Siller, who died on 9/11. |
Sarah Siller, widow of fallen firefighter, has emotional moment during Sunday’s Tunnel to Towers Run. |
The widow of hero Firefighter Stephen Siller, who sprinted through the Battery Tunnel on 9/11 to get to the burning towers, ran in his footsteps for the first time Sunday.
Sarah Siller took part in the seventh annual Tunnel to Towers Run, which honors her husband, whose selflessness on that tragic day will live on forever, she said.
"It was time," the Staten Island mother of five said.
"It was a very emotional experience, and to go through the tunnel and hear everybody cheering was amazing," said Siller, 41, of Staten Island.
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Stephen Siller, 34, a firefighter with Squad 1 in Park Slope, Brooklyn, raced on foot through the smoke-filled tunnel carrying 80 pounds of gear when he wasnot allowed to drive to Manhattan.
He was last seen alive at West and Liberty Sts.; the rest of his fire company was already there, and they all perished.
Siller's story is memorialized in the annual 5K run that began in 2002. For the past six years, Sarah Siller stood at the finish line and cheered on runners.
This year, in a scene at once heartbreaking and inspirational, she donned her husband's firefighter jacket and running shoes for the race.
"Everyone is so supportive of each other. It's so cathartic."
Siller ran the 5K that took runners through the tunnel from Brooklyn and ended on West St. near Ground Zero with three of her children.
"It's truly helped us heal," said Siller, who celebrated her 10th anniversary with Stephen a few months before he died.
The race has grown to an estimated 20,000 runners from just 2,700 in 2002. After the race, the Fire Department held a ceremony that honored the 343 members of the Fire Department killed on 9/11, with banners representing each.
"It just brings me to my knees that Stephen has inspired so many people to come together through his actions and how he lived his last final moments," said older brother Frank Siller, one of the event's organizers.
Brooklyn Firefighter Tim Bohan ran the race for the seventh time, and each year it brings back memories of 9/11.
"I've talked to guys who rode motorcycles through it and you couldn't see anything with all the smoke," said Bohan, 45. "The tunnel was black, and I'm sure Stephen had no idea what he was running into."
Chris Rodriguez ran in honor of his cousin Anthony Rodriguez, a firefighter from Staten Island who died on 9/11.
"It was just so great, the spirit of everybody in that tunnel," said Rodriguez, 30, of Staten Island, who ran with two family members.