HOUSTON – 25 years after the Sept. 11 attacks, survivor Tom Canavan still feels the weight of the day.
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What they’re saying:
“There isn’t something that happens probably every day that doesn’t remind me of that day,” Canavan said.
On Sept. 11, 2001, Canavan was working on the 47th floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center. The morning started like any other Tuesday. He had taken the train into Manhattan and was in his boss’s office when American Airlines Flight 11 struck the tower dozens of floors above him.
“We heard this huge noise,” Canavan said. “And the next thing I knew, the building rocked.”
When he looked outside, Canavan said he saw metal, concrete and glass falling to the streets below. He and others began making their way down. Canavan said he tried to help others escape, describing himself as a “sheepdog.” At one point, he turned back to help an elderly couple.
“If I hadn’t gone back in to help an elderly couple behind me, I wouldn’t be here,” he said.
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The couple survived. But the towers collapsed while Canavan was still trying to escape. He was buried beneath debris and suffered multiple injuries, including a skull fracture. As he fought to get out, Canavan said his thoughts turned to his family. His son was about to turn 3-years-old, and his wife was pregnant with their daughter.
“I was like, OK, this came down. I need to get out of here,” Canavan said. “I have to plan a birthday party and I have to see my daughter be born.”
He survived. 25 years later, Canavan said surviving comes with a responsibility.
“I have a debt that I need to pay for the people that didn’t get out,” he said.
For years, Canavan worked at the 9/11 Museum, sharing his story and the stories of others who died in the attacks. It was there that FOX 26 Houston reporter Mekenna Earnhart first met Canavan. Earnhart was an eighth grader visiting New York City on a school field trip when Canavan approached the table where she, her mother and classmates were sitting in a deli. He introduced himself and began sharing his story. Earnhart said she never forgot him. Years later, as she began working on a special report ahead of the 25th anniversary of the attacks, Earnhart immediately thought of Canavan. Her mother had saved his phone number, and Earnhart reached out, unsure whether he would respond. He did.
Canavan agreed to speak with Earnhart and said her unexpected call made an impact on him as well. Throughout the years, Canavan said he has tried to make the history of Sept. 11 personal for younger generations.
“You talk to kids and you never know if you’re getting through to them,” he said.
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