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CNN LIVE EVENT/SPECIAL

Changed In A Moment: Families of WTC Victims Cope with Loss

Aired October 12, 2001 - 05:48   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: In the days after the September 11 attack, some people were holding out hope that their family members might be found alive in the rubble of the World Trade Center somehow, some way. Well, it is one month later now, and they know that their loved ones are never coming home.

CNN's Elizabeth Cohen sat down and talked with them about their loss.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Steve Morello is gone. His daughters have accepted this and dealt with it by engraving his memory into their bodies.

ALFI MORELLO, VICTIM'S DAUGHTER: It just means so much that that just feels like it's something that's there forever.

JESSICA MORELLO, VICTIM'S DAUGHTER: It's a permanent reminder and just a permanent reminder.

COHEN: To survive what seems like the unsurvivable, Jessica and Alfi Morello also bought copies of the watch their father wore and loved. In the end, though, they say it's not photos or the watches or even each other that's kept them from falling apart. They say it's their father working from above.

A. MORELLO: We ask each other every night: How are we doing this? And we don't know. The only explanation could be that he's guiding us, taking us by the shoulders, picking us up every morning. It's the only explanation.

COHEN (on camera): Right after the World Trade Center disaster, we spent days talking to families like the Morellos right here outside the armory where families came to register their missing loved ones. A month later, we've gotten back in touch with many of the families and been struck by how much they want to talk. They want to talk about the person they lost, and they want to talk about what they're doing to get through each day.

(voice-over): Harvey Gardner lost brothers Anthony and Mark when he died in the World Trade Center explosion. Look at the necklace he's wearing in this photo; now see it on his brother, Anthony, who we met September 15 at the armory. ANTHONY GARDNER, VICTIM'S BROTHER: I'm wearing my brother's necklace. Wednesday he's going to kill me when he comes home. Wednesday, I went to his apartment, and I took it. This is his favorite necklace, and I'm wearing until he comes home. And I'm going to give it back to him when he walks back in the door.

COHEN: He never walked through the door, and now Anthony knows he never will, but he still wears the necklace.

GARDNER: I look at it as a little piece of my brother that I have that, you know, since I can't have him now, you know, this is some way to keep him close to my heart.

COHEN: And now, Anthony is pouring his grieving heart into a project. He started a support group for families who lost relatives in the explosion, to counsel each other and to share information.

GARDNER: I heard a story that other people on the 83rd floor of Building 1 did escape, so I would like to come -- get in contact with those people to find out if they even saw my brother, do they know what happened, did they see him on a stairwell somewhere?

COHEN: The Zucker family considers themselves lucky to have information about Andrew's last moments. They recently received an e- mail from his coworker.

STUART ZUCKER (reading): Andrew instructed everyone to leave the floor, patiently but forcefully. He saved other lives, including, thanks to the self-confidence he evidenced, my life, at the ultimate risk to to his own life.

COHEN: Andrew was 27 years old. His wife Erica is 4 months pregnant. The Zuckers say the information from the e-mail about Andrew's heroism, plus being together has helped the family survive.

ZUCKER: We basically have been sitting together here, in my home, for 4 weeks now, day in, day out. We eat together -- we do a lot of eating. I guess we're coping in our -- in that type of way.

COHEN: Like all the families we spoke with, they have their good moments and their bad. Their times of fond memories, their moments of darkness.

ZUCKER: I can't answer you. I don't know how I'm ever going to get over it. I don't know if I ever will. Hopefully, with time, I'll be able to function. Life has to go on.

COHEN: Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, New York.

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