Healing Ink, New York

1 of 19 to survive being buried under the collapse of the towers. My skull was fractured skull. Dug myself out with my bare hands. Lost many friends that day and have intense survivor’s guilt.

Healing Ink, Pittsburgh

I was a member of one of the responding SWAT teams.

Healing Ink, Israel 2019

It was the last day of the war with Lebanon. His unit heard there were spies surveilling them for an ambush and they went out to find them. All of a sudden, two missiles were fired. First, the jeep in front of his was hit and he saw his friends die instantly. Then another missile struck near his jeep and the shrapnel cut through his body. He has significant amounts of shrapnel in his arms and legs and has lost almost all of his hearing.

Healing Ink, Orlando

I was the last voice a woman heard moments before the shooter came into the bathroom and shot everyone in it. I heard her die. Even worse, I was the 911 Operator who spoke with the shooter when he picked up her phone. His words haunt me to this day.

Healing Ink, Israel 2016

Ben prevented two terror attacks from West Lebanon. He shot one terrorist and gave chase to another that escaped in a different direction. He chased the terrorist into a house where he found 5 rocket-propelled grenades and 2 launchers that, intelligence later learned, were supposed to be used that evening. Since then, he has suffered from severe PTSD including sometimes crippling OCD. He has taken to actively seeking treatment to heal himself.

Healing Ink, Virginia Beach

After we were alerted of an active shooter, I helped a coworker who had fallen to the ground, not realizing the gunman was right behind her(1st time crossing his path). After i helped my coworker up, i helped her get secured in an office. I was with one of the victims before he was shot, we had went our seperate ways after the fire alarm was set off, trying to get to an office i crossed the gunman's path (2nd time). I secured myself and a coworker in an office. Heard the gunshots that killed my coworker i had just seperated from. The gunman looked through the window directly at me in the office i was secured in (3rd time). He saw me and left. Saw one of the victims outside the building from the office i was in. Saw the police presence outside the building, heard the gunfight. Rescued by the officers, had to go down a stairwell and step over one of the victims. I knew 8 of the 12 victims. I still have images of what i saw when i close my eyes. I still have nightmares from the incident and it has made my depressino and anxiety worse, and i now have PTSD from the event as well.

Healing Ink, Las Vegas

I was in the 3rd row from the stage when the shooting started. My group made us start running but I am in the medical field so I kept stopping to help people. I took bullets out of a girl’s chest, other girl’s leg, and a guy took his shirt off so I could rip it and use it as a tourniquet. During all the chaos all I wanted to do was help people.

Healing Ink, Israel 2018

I'll tell you briefly. I served in the Golani Brigade between 1997 and 2000. Over these years We were stationed in Lebanon, There I lost 10 friends, brothers in arms. Since then, I still serve in reserve duty, Over the years I have been stationed in Hebron, Nablus, Jenin, Gaza....I participated in all wars and operations, And today I am known as suffer from PTSD combat.

Healing Ink, Las Vegas

Greg is a Firefighter and Paramedic but was at the concert as a civilian. This is his first time sharing his story. He only believed it was shooting when two hit the bar right in front of his eyes. After the shooting began, he did what he was trained to do. Immediately he began triage and treatment as well as performing CPR on many and assisting with evacuation of the injured. He estimates he helped with 15 or 16 people that day and is careful to say that triage is terrible in many ways. Greg had to literally tell people that their loved one was dying and it was best that they run and get out of the line of fire or refuse to help someone if their injuries were too minor or, too often in this event, too grave. He remembers running through bullets to try and find people to help and saw one man sitting cross legged on the ground over the lifeless body of his friend. Greg had to say: "I don't know the right thing to say about your friend but he is dead and you are alive and you need to get off this field now to stay that way." Triage is horrible in the moment but it is the best way to save as many lives as possible. Greg doesn't want his story to be heard but he does want everyone who lost someone that night to know that they did not die alone. Every victim was surrounded by people holding and talking to them as they passed. By the time the Fire Department and Police Department arrived, he was ready to join the team and help. As a member of the Honor Guard, he knows a lot of his brothers and sisters on the job and he ran into someone he knew right away. The guy gave him his vest, helmet and goggles so Greg could go back in and help and not be evacuated as a civilian. He joined the body count team and discovered bodies 6 through 11 and part of the team that discovered 19 dead. After that night, Greg was fine. Until a year later when his dog woke him up in the middle of the night. Without really knowing why, he went into his office and spent 45 minutes putting his gun in his mouth and to the side of his head, watching videos of Route 91. In the last moment, he called Peer Support and the man who answered spoke to him for 45 minutes, got him an appointment with a therapist for the next morning and saved his life. Greg is still on the job.

Healing Ink, Israel 2018

I'll tell you briefly. I served in the Golani Brigade between 1997 and 2000. Over these years We were stationed in Lebanon, There I lost 10 friends, brothers in arms. Since then, I still serve in reserve duty, Over the years I have been stationed in Hebron, Nablus, Jenin, Gaza....I participated in all wars and operations, And today I am known as suffer from PTSD combat.

Healing Ink, Pittsburgh

The injury was emotional, not physical. My husband and I were at the dollar store with my 3 and 5 year old the morning of the shooting, getting them prizes for sitting still during a haircut. My mom (who worked in the Tree of Life building at Dor Hadash) text me saying "turn on the news, active shooter at Tree of Life). I assumed it was a domestic, but did a quick Google search. The news was live streaming horrific images of SWAT outside of the building I knew and loved, with voice over play-by-plays of the situation. The shooter was still inside the building, in my mom's classroom, in the middle of a shoot-out with the police. I was a religious school teacher at Dor Hadash, my aunt was the president of New Light Congregation, and my husband's family grew up in the Tree of Life synagogue, his dad and uncle both getting Bar Mitzvah'd in that building. I immediately began to call my aunt. I tried a few times and couldn't get through. So I called the director of the religious school at Dor Hadash. He answered that he was okay, didn't get there yet, but that Dan was there and he hadn't heard from him. He hung up. I called my grandmother frantically, who confirmed my aunt and uncle were alive and at home. They are older and didn't go to the synagogue that morning (first morning they missed in over a year) because it was raining. After an hour of using Facebook, text messaging, and calls to check on those who were a part of my Jewish community, I realized that I couldn't keep thinking about this as a Jewish person, I had to act on it as a Jewish professional. At the time I was the director of a religious school in the Fox Chapel suburbs near Pittsburgh, at Adat Shalom Synagogue. I had to decide if we were canceling school the next day, what to tell my teachers, how to check in with my students. I sent out a message that religious school was canceled but that teachers still needed to come in. Then I prepared. I gathered trauma resources. I printed and made packets for my teachers. I learned how to talk to children about antisemitism when it happens in your community. The next morning I stood in the synagogue office at Adat Shalom with the executive director and the police officer that was sent to guard us that day. The police officer was a member of the SWAT team the morning of the shooting. He was one of the first to respond. We watched on his phone as the names were read aloud. All three of us held each other and cried. Dan was on that list. He survived, but was shot. My husband's best friend's grandmother and mother were on that list. His mother survived, his grandmother did not. Brothers that my mom grew up with were on that list. A friend of my grandfathers was on that list. The Jewish community in Pittsburgh may be large in number, but it is a tight knit community. We all lost family that day. I then had to walk into a room where my teachers waited for me. I had to absorb their feelings and remain strong for them. Then I had to come up with a plan. We agreed to split the kids when they came to school on Tuesday. I would take one group with a couple of teachers, another seasoned teacher would take the other group. We would answer their questions as honestly as possible, and reassure them that they were safe. I could never have fully prepared for the questions I got that day. "Ms. Sierra, is this how the Holocaust started?" "Why do they hate us?" "Why should we still be Jewish if being Jewish can make us die?" Later the following week I drove past Tree of Life. I had purposely avoided driving down Wilkins (my usual path to work) so that my 5 year old wouldn't see. I was driving on auto-pilot and forgot. My daughter looked out the window and saw the police tape and visual barriers. She asked me "mommy, what happened at that place? Thats where you were a teacher." I had to pause for a long time, but then decided to be honest. I said "11 people died there and the police have to look for clues". She asked, "how did they die?" I told her, "a man shot them with a gun." She asked, "why did he kill them?" I said, "because he had a lot of fear in his heart, and his fear turned to hatred." She asked, "were they all Jewish?" I told her that they were. "Did he hate them because they were Jewish?" she asked. "He did" I said. She was quiet for a long time after that as I kept driving. Finally she whispered "I don't want to be Jewish anymore." It has been nearly 3 years since that tragedy struck my community and even though I attended the funerals, placed flowers on the memorial, did action projects to help my students cope, taught my children, I never fully processed what happened that day. Not on a personal level. I acted and reacted as a professional, and as a parent, but not as a person who realized on that day that someone could, and would, kill me because of my religion.

Healing Ink, Israel 2018

He heard a whistle and then experienced complete darkness. He woke up realizing that he was no longer in his tank. A mortar shell had landed 5 meters away. Had they done their usual routine, they would have been right there. Ran couldn't move his legs but felt no pain. He picked his head up and saw lots of blood coming from his stomach and thought to himself "ok, I won't look down there anymore." His Commanding Officer, Omri, was first on the scene and saved his life. Ran's son is now named Omri. He was operated on for 14 hours and the doctors found many miracles: a piece of shrapnel that stopped in the back of his ear, an inch or less from his brain, another piece of shrapnel that pierced his stomach, inches from his spine and one through his groin that severed an artery but, due to the heat of the burning steel, cauterized the wound and kept him from bleeding out. He went through 6 months living in the hospital and another 6 months back and forth everyday with physical and emotional therapy. He felt so thankful to the psychiatrists that treated him that he studied and is now a psychologist helping others.

Healing Ink, Las Vegas

I was bar tending when the shots rang out. I helped lift people over a fence and then pushed the fence down so we could run for safety. I had my finger in the bullet hole in the back of one of our angel's heads. I, then, ended up with the body of another of our 58 angels. I stayed by his side and answered his phone, having to tell his family he had been shot and killed. I have become an advocate for gun violence prevention since then and helping my fellow survivors heal.

Healing Ink, Virginia Beach

Super long so I’ll shorten it, was one of the people who got most of the employees out of the first floor, even went back in searching for friends. While outside, dove on top of a co-worker who couldn't run because he is wheelchair-bound when shots rang out. Knew all of the employees who lost their lives. Have struggled with drugs, alcohol, and depression since. Put together a support group and have been trying to help others who are still struggling, including myself. Am doing better but still struggling daily.

Healing Ink, Israel 2018

In 2002, Egged Bus 20 was carrying mostly children to high school. Daisy was 16 years old and on her way to school. The bombing killed 11 and injured 50. She was one of the 50. One of the dead fell on top of her, shielding her from some of the blast. She was covered in his blood and her own. Her hair was burnt and she was bleeding but had no long-term physical injuries. She did suffer emotionally. Returning to school, she was treated very differently. People had thought she had died and acted like she was a freak. Her hair had been burnt off which made her look weird. She retreated inside herself and became withdrawn, lost most of her friends and her boyfriend. She developed an eating disorder that lasted for six year and post traumatic stress disorder. With therapy and working to heal others, she has gotten much better. Daisy is now a doctor trying to save lives herself.

Healing Ink, New York

I am medically retired from the NYC Fire Dept. due to numerous physical illness as well as severe PTSD. I was critically injured in the collapse of the North Tower on Sept. 11th while working as a Rescue Paramedic for the FDNY. After being released from the hospital i fought my way back to full duty but in 2011 retired due to my illness's becoming so severe it made doing my job impossible. Currently i volunteer as a Docent one day a week at the Sept. 11th Memirial Museum and do advocacy work for the Fealgood Foundation.

Healing Ink, Pittsburgh

On 10/27 my 97 your old grandmother was killed by the man who entered the tree of life synagogue. She may have been older in years but not in spirit and there is no doubt in my mind that she would still be here today if it wasn't for him.

Healing Ink, New York

Was late for workouts missed my chief who responded to the first crash was getting ready to go down there 2nd tower fell my chief was trapped in world financial center in heavy smoke condition for hours before rescued. I was a bad asthmatic and probably wouldn't of survived that. Made my way down there to help. What I saw was unsureal it looked liked something out of a bad apocalyptic movie. We were treating workers and people who were in the area and we heard noises felt a rumble and the building we were in shook, i was kneeling so i put my hands on my head and hit the floor and hoped for the best building 7 had partially collapsed. When it was over continued care around the site of the collapse till 2am. Went back to headquarters washed up. Next day was told would be reassigned for a few months to OEM at the piers for a few months. When I wasn't on duty at OEM I also worked the morgue detail every friday for 12 hours or more till the closing ceremony in May 2002, recovering and help log remains of all the victims and helping with crisis support for us and our fellow agencies working in the pits.. Even though they said the air was safe I still wore a filter mask because it was aggravating my asthma. I got my chops busted by a superior officer stating "why are you wearing a mask ?I told him about my asthma issue and I stated the air smells and tastes funny" he stated "well then go home and dont come here if your afraid. I said well not for nothing at least 10 years from now when people are dying from the crap in the air, I may have a chance to live. That statement gives me chills to this day. I can never forget what I saw certain things bring back those memories I have tucked away deep in my soul. I get goose bumbs anytime I'm near the site which is not often and still haven't been to the museum. I don't think I'm ready yet.

Healing Ink, Israel 2019

Yehuda jokes that he stopped a rocket with his head. Yehuda was hit by the rocket which started the last war with Gaza. It left him blind as well as a number of other injuries and deficiencies. He is learning to live and work as a blind man and has an amazing sense of humor.

Healing Ink, Orlando

On June 12th, 2016 at 0202 hours I was the off duty Orlando Police Officer working off duty at the Pulse Night Club. I came face to face with pure evil and witnessed one of the most horrific events in life that someone can see. I engaged the suspect in gunfire and ultimately entered the club where we encountered images of death and destruction which will never be forgotten by any survivor or first responder who entered into the club on this tragic night. The next several months and following year would have immense impact not only on myself but also my family. As a first responder we take on the responsibility to protect our community. The images of that night and the emotions which come from such an event alters a person's inner self. A change occurs. I experienced all ranges of emotions from anger to guilt. I struggled as many in our community did to come to terms with the loss of life that we witnessed. I have struggled with and received treatment for Post Traumatic Stress.

Healing Ink, Israel 2017

2015 was the knife intifada (a period of increased terrorism sponsored and supported by the Palestinian government). Gilad was patrolling an area in Hebron in a heavily trafficked area. An older man was walking by and the soldiers paid him little attention due to his age. Then, he pulled out a knife and attacked Gilad. Gilad avoided the first couple of stabs but then was caught in the head. The knife ripped him from the middle of the back of his head down through his neck and right before the throat, cutting the main artery in half, causing him to lose more than half his blood. The doctors were surprised he survived at all and he needed to take a vein from his leg to reattach the one near his throat. Today, he has no feeling in half his face, neck and shoulder except a very odd nerve re-alignment that causes him to feel sensations in his shoulder if you touch his ear.

Healing Ink, Las Vegas

I am an ER nurse, I was working at Sunrise Emergency department that night. I was actually talking to a Metro officer who was there for an unrelated case when he heard gunshots go out over his radio. He said it was at the music fest. I initiated our team to be prepared. My ER saw the most patients in town that night. And since my hospital is closest to the venue, we saw many patients that were brought in my car in the early minutes before EMS could start transporting. We cared for some of the most critical in those early minutes. My husband is a firefighter and his station is across from venue, he was 1st in to venue while shots were still being fired. This event impacted my house hold imensly. NOTES: WAS ONE OF ONLY 3 TRAUMA NURSES AT THAT TIME. LOTS OF OTHER STORIES. NURSES ARE TRAINED TO SAVE PEOPLE BUT SO MANY OF THOSE COMING IN WERE SO MORTALLY WOUNDED OR CRITICALLY INJURED THAT YOU TRY YOUR BEST AND HURTS WHEN YOU CAN'T. NOW. GOOD. CAN'T EVER WORK THAT DAY BUT THANK GD. HER AND HER HUSBAND WAS ABLE TO HELP EACH OTHER HEAL. KNOWS SHEHAS A LOR OF BURSES WHOSE SPOUSES DON'T UNDERSTAND.

Healing Ink, Las Vegas

I lost my father that day

Healing Ink, Orlando

I was there with 3 friends, one of which was going through a breakup. It was after last call when we were dancing in the main room when we heard shots. Strangely, wet thought it was part of the music. Then the music stopped and we could still hear gun fire. Everyone was screaming and dropping to the floor. I was laying on the ground while people were being shot right next to me. I don't remember much but I know that I debated whether to get up and run or stay and pray the bullets didn't hit me. When the gun fire stopped for a moment, I got up and ran. My arms, legs and hands were full of blood having been sliced open across the arms and at my knees as I crawled through broken glass

Healing Ink, Virginia Beach

I am the active shooter "guru" for the city of Va. Beach. I developed a program called the Active Threat Citizens Defense workshop after the Sandyhook incident. I wanted to make sure nothing like that ever happens to my city. My quest began in February of 2014. Since then I have done over 350 workshops and trained over 11,000 citizens. Ironically enough, the morning of May 31, I had just done an interview about my upcoming public training which was the next day, June 1st. I do 2 a year with the largest crowd being 1200. This was going to be a group of 450 people at Coastal Community Church. I was in my office in civilian attire working after hours preparing for the big show when I needed to get supplies. I left to Wal-Mart in my personal vehicle and while driving I saw several police pass me (faster than allowed) and even saw police vehicles that did not normally go to emergency calls. I called dispatch and asked her what was going on. He calmly stated " Active Shooter in building 2" to which I responded "WHAT????!!!!!" He repeated it and so did I, "WHATTTTTTTT????!!!!" I then apologized because he was about to say it a 3rd time and I hung up. I turned the car around and headed back to my office...because I can see building 2 from my back window. I had just been in my office and left a few minutes before it happened. All streets were blocked off when I returned and being in my personal vehicle and not in uniform, I had to wait in that traffic. There I was in shorts and flip flops, unarmed, and unable to assist. By the time I arrived to my office the place was saturated with police. There was nothing I can do, especially with the event I had the next day. What was I going to say? How do I speak about about something that just LITERALLY HAPPENED IN MY OWN BACK YARD!!! I called my son (who is also a police officer) and wanted to tell him what just happened. I didn't know if he knew because he had gotten off about 15 minutes before it happened. No answer! I decided to go back to Walmart to prepare for the next days event. I got my supplies and return to the office and just stared out my back window like watching TV. Things had calmed down by now and I was watching the people gathering and discussing whatever it is you discuss after the hell you just witnessed. I had my desk TV on listening to the reports when the phone rang. It was my son. "Hi Pops" he said. "Hey Bud", I responded sadly, "did you hear what happened?" He said Yes, Im right here, I can see your office. I found myself for the second time today yelling "WHAT???!!!" He told me how he was off and heard it on the radio so he grabbed his keys again, jumped back into his car, and raced over. He was in the building holding down a hallway and seeing things I wish he wouldn't have as a young officer. The anger, frustration, disbelief was too much for me. I told him I loved him and to visit me here when he gets a chance. I hung up and just wept. I have dedicated the last 6 years of my life training people, thousands of people, and its as if the DEVIL just does it right in my own back yard as if to say, "Why are you even trying? You cant even stop me right outside your window?" I continue to prepare for the next days event, rewriting material, coming up with a new opening, and of course, all this don't through tears as I continued to hear reports and see my office being lit up by the many different emergency vehicles right outside my window. I work and I worked until I received the text "ACTIVE THREAT CITIZENS DEFENSE WORKSHOP CANCELED" I stood there in the dark blankly staring at my screen, upset at first but the a sense of relief washed over me. I went home and tried to nap for a couple of hours but that was not going to happen. I simply washed up and returned to the office to begin sending out 600 emails letting people know it has been canceled. I was going to stand at the location to inform those who did not receive my email but my Sgt. saw the state I was in and sent me home. She saw something in my eyes that I didn't realize until the city event was held a few days later. I was there greeting people and doing security. My deputy Chief walked over and asked if I was good. I smiled like always and said "Of course" but he saw the same thing my Sgt. did. Many people hugged me out of gratitude because during the shooting, they remembered what I taught them and they survived. Other hugged me because they knew the efforts I have done to try and prevent this...and still others hugged me because they saw in my eyes what my Sgt. and Deputy Chief saw as well....I was broken. DAMMIT! He,,,,,broke,,,,,me. I had to get right with this. My Deputy Chief wrote me a long email telling me not to blame myself and keep fighting the good fight. He wrote that many people LIVED because of what I taught them. Those were the words I needed to hear. It awakened something in me. I was broken, but not shattered. Broken can be fixed, never the same, but fixed nonetheless. A little over 2 months later I did the public Active Threat Training in front of a crowd of 600. It was a powerful seminar and my son was by my side assisting me. I honored those who survived and had to deal with what has occurred. Here we are now, months later, having joined the fraternity no one wants to belong to, and people are healing; some even forgetting. But not me. I drive by that building every day on my way to my office. I park and look up and there it is. I walk into my office just to glance out my window and see it. I now the Devil is mocking me but he aint stopping me. I was going to retire in July of 2020, 6 months from now, but I cant. I have a lot to do, thousands left to train. The building is no longer a sign of my failures but a reason to keep trying to succeed. kiss my ass, Devil! Im still here.

Healing Ink, New York

Im a former first responders now I'm part of the law enforcement, but I lost my brother due to 9/11 he was an EMT for FDNY. Brother worked for city for 25 years. He was the community guy - did BBQs and dinners and stuff. All the left arms here, right arms there, etc…… mentally affected. Developed breast cancer and passed away. 9 sisters and 3 brothers. Station named a street after him - 172 and Amsterdam. Luis Depena aka "Fluffy".

Healing Ink, Las Vegas

Our son Jordan, age 23, was killed in the Las Vegas mass shooting. He was an only child.

Healing Ink, Israel 2018

Henry is a surfer who traveled the world surfing. When back in Israel, on the way home to his parent's house over the weekend, Henry decided last minute that he wanted to visit his grandmother (and eat some of her cooking). She lived just down the road from his house. About a minute after passing his home, a terrorist in a car ran up behind him and slammed into his motorbike. He went flying feet first into a tree and one leg was jammed all the way up into his shoulder. This was a period called the "car intifada" when terrorists were driving into bus stops, on sidewalks and any other way possible using their car as a weapon. Henry says "my first question was 'will I be able to surf again?'" The doctor laughed and said he was crazy but that miracles happen. They put Henry in a coma for two weeks while they worked on his legs and to help his body heal. He woke up with one leg completely gone and, on the remaining leg, a foot that did not work. He told his mother that he would rather die than live like that and seriously considered taking his own life. Many of his friends came to visit him and explained how it would be the easy way out and selfish to kill himself. He decided to recover and to do even more than before. After the 2 weeks in the coma and the next 8.5 months in the hospital, he was released. His first stop was the beach where "I thanked the sea for letting me see her again." Today, Henry has a prosthetic leg and supports on the other but, he is also a world champion wake board surfer.

Healing Ink, Israel 2018

9:15am, a bus depot: a homicide bomber walks into a group of people and detonates 10 kilograms of explosives hidden inside a military bag. The terrorists were wearing stolen Israel Defense Forces uniforms. On top of the explosives, they had put marbles and nails so when the bag exploded, there would be more shrapnel and injuries. Oded was a meter away and was severely injured. Someone rushed over, put a tourniquet on his bleeding leg and Oded remembers him drawing the time on his forehead so, in case he passed out on the way to the hospital, the doctors would know how long the wrapping had been on him. His friend, Eitan, came rushing into the scene because he knew Oded was inside. People had been warned to stay away, bombers usually work in twos - one doing the attack and the other waiting to set the next bomb when the nurses and doctors had arrived. Eitan ignored them, pushing his way through. Eitan dropped to his knees to help Oded when the second terrorist walked in and detonated a bomb. Eitan absorbed most of the blast, he died instantly, his body acting as a shield. Oded survived with 2nd-degree burns across his face and shrapnel in his leg and head. He survived but with severe PTSD, remembering his dead friend's body lying across his. He thinks of his ability to remember as a curse. Oded has testified about this day and it is because of him and his memory that many soldiers who helped and lost their lives that day have received Medals of Honor, including his friend Eitan. Oded was lucky. There was a third terrorist who was supposed to go that day but, at the last minute, he got scared and did not come. He was eventually arrested and another bag full of explosives recovered. Who knows how many more lives would have been lost or, even, if Oded would still be here with us.