A 9/11 Survivor Tells Her Story
Hit by a fireball as she waited at a World Trade Center elevator bank, she ran from the lobby, her clothing on fire.
By Laura Landro, WSJ
"On the spectacular September morning when two passenger jets tore through the World Trade Center towers in a heretofore unimaginable act of terrorism, Lauren Manning happened to be in the lobby of the north tower when it was hit by the first plane. Waiting for an elevator that would take her to the 105th floor, where she worked for financial-services company Cantor Fitzgerald, Ms. Manning had heard a piercing whistle and attributed it to construction noise—but then she felt the building quake and a fireball flashed from the elevator bank like a blast from hell, engulfing her.
"Unmeasured Strength" is a gripping tale of her long fight back from a devastating injury that easily could have killed her. Though her story has been told before—in the press, in a book by her husband, and on television on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and "Today"—Ms. Manning's own account, arriving in time for the 10th anniversary of 9/11, goes beyond those tributes to her courage. Her graphic descriptions of the physical ordeal of a burn victim may churn the stomach, but she has valuable lessons to impart about the personal challenges of overcoming physical and emotional adversity.
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