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CNN Live Saturday

Interview With Greg Manning

Aired April 20, 2002 - 12:39   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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Lauren Manning, a senior vice president at Cantor Fitzgerald, had just arrived at work at 1 World Trade Center when the September 11 tragedy struck. Unlike many of her co-workers, she survived. However, she received burns to about 82 percent of her body. Her struggle to recover is reported in a book written by her husband, Greg, entitled "Love, Greg and Lauren." And Greg Manning joins us now from New York to share this remarkable story. Thanks for joining us. So good to see you.

GREG MANNING, AUTHOR, "LOVE, GREG & LAUREN": Thanks for having me here today.

WHITFIELD: How is Lauren doing?

MANNING: Lauren's doing great. She came home from the rehab on March 15, and she's working, she's hanging out with our son. She's doing great.

WHITFIELD: Do you sort of feel, even though the injuries have been varied for those who were directly affected, who were the survivors of the World Trade Center tragedies, do you feel that her experience has been sort of a microcosm, or at least the stories being told in your book, it's a sort of microcosm of what so many other World Trade Center victims have been experiencing?

MANNING: In the sense that we can't ever forget that day, I think that very much we carry September 11 and its impact with us every moment.

But I think Lauren, to me, is just an inspiration. I hope that she represents that story in microcosm, because her story is really about overcoming, it's about fighting hard, it's about having incredible strength of mind and strength of will to get back as quickly as you can to a normal life, and it's really the most powerful story of her love for our son and really how much that helped her.

WHITFIELD: And a powerful struggle and a powerful journey, too, in that she had to relearn so many things that so many of us take for granted. For example, didn't she have to try to relearn to walk again, given these burns were over 80 percent of her body. How debilitating has it all been for her?

MANNING: That's correct. She was sedated for over a month while she went through her most significant surgeries. She did great, but then of course she had to get up out of that bed, she had to rebuild all of that strength. It was more a question of really rebuilding the strength and flexibility to do it.

But as one of her doctors said, she puts out 300 percent. She got up, and she was determined when they said, you know, you -- they didn't -- they told her she couldn't walk, she said, well, I'm going to fix that.

WHITFIELD: And throughout, you documented this. Perhaps your objective was not to write a book, but you kept so many friends and families informed by putting, you know, your thoughts down in the written form.

We've got a portion of the book that I'd like to read to folks. It begins -- one of your writings begins: "Lauren is putting up a heck of a fight. She's been through two surgeries and continues to hold on. She's had -- she has a long road in front of her, but she's hanging in there and we are by her side constantly. As of 5:00 p.m. Wednesday, she remained stable." Why did you feel that it was so important to try to keep folks informed this way? I'm sure the telephone calls were overwhelming.

MANNING: There were probably a hundred a day, and I couldn't spend enough time with any of them. Just to say "she's hanging in there" didn't seem nearly enough. And she was showing remarkable strength and I thought courage. Her doctors and nurses were incredibly dedicated, and there was such a wave of love that floated, you know, that came into us from around the world that I had to somehow write to these people. They wanted to connect with her and try to build that connection by writing as descriptively as I could.

What's amazing is that they told me they did have that connection, and people who read the compiled e-mail updates now in the book are writing to us every day, that they find Lauren a hero and that her story has really helped them in their lives. It's an amazing to me story of healing, and it's such a tribute to her.

WHITFIELD: And you were dedicated on a daily basis to try and keep people informed. I have another passage from your book. "Lauren remained stable yesterday." This was written on October 25. "And through the night, in a strangely quiet ward, it is as if the unit has joined the rest of the world in returning to normalcy. The adrenaline rush is gone. The glamour of fighting a life and death struggle has subsided, and I suddenly grasped the reality, that these last 44 days, long as they have been, are only the first steps of a marathon." And she is still running that marathon.

MANNING: Very much so. She faces at least another year of serious healing. She gets a lot of physical therapy and occupational therapy, which is really with the tasks of everyday living, really to just enable her to pick up and hold her son.

One of the things that she was thinking and shouting when she was suffering her injury was, God, let me live for Tyler (ph), and her prayers were answered when she was able to see him in November, a very emotional day. And her prayers continue to be answered every day. And now she can pick him up. People should have in their mind this woman who runs around the house with him and really is just completely dedicated and never looks back.

WHITFIELD: This book is now a best-seller. What kind of response are you getting from people who have picked up the book, who are learning more about your struggle as a family and Lauren's fight?

MANNING: It's really remarkable what a wonderful response we're getting. As I said, people write e-mails every day, and they're just so filled with love. I can't tell you. One woman wrote that she reconciled her marriage; another woman contacted a sister she hadn't spoken to in years. And you know, this is an effect you never can anticipate, because I think it's in many ways a universal story about love and the power of love and very much the power of prayer to overcome what was an act of evil but one that really doesn't define who we are.

WHITFIELD: It's a beautiful book. It's a love story, it's a diary, it's a journal. So many words of inspiration. Greg Manning, thanks so much for joining us. It is "Love, Greg & Lauren," and our best to Lauren and your family.

MANNING: I'll certainly tell her. Thanks for having me on.

WHITFIELD: Thank you.

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