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CNN Live At Daybreak

New York Firefighter Terry Farrell Was A Hero Before September 11

Aired November 07, 2001 - 05:56   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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Live picture there of ground zero. And by now you have heard of the heroism of the New York City firefighters who rushed to that site on September 11, but a teenage girl considered one of those firefighters who lost his life, to her, he was a hero long before that day.

And our Jason Bellini has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After seven weeks, Terry Farrell's body was finally found within the wreckage of the World Trade Center. His children had a coffin to salute.

And another very special person in Terry's life, also in his bloodline now, was able to leave a flower on his grave.

(on camera): Is it tougher being sick or tougher going through this?

C. PETERSON: It's tougher going through this.

BELLINI: Chantyl Peterson, 14 years old, is alive because of Terry. He saved her, not from a fire, but from T-cell lymphoma, a terminal illness.

(on camera): Where was it you guys met for the very first time, right here in this hall?

(voice-over): It was here at this blood bank in 1993 that Terry had his bone marrow tested. The national databank identified Chantyl as a perfect match.

PETERSON, CHANTYL'S MOTHER: He didn't just save her life but he gave her life.

BELLINI: Chantyl's hero, the man who didn't hesitate to undergo painful surgery for a girl he, at the time didn't even know, became a part of her life. She never expected to have to let go so soon.

(on camera): How old were you when you met Terry.

C. PETERSON: Six. BELLINI (voice-over): She flew with her family a second time from Nevada to New York when she was 11, having lunch, of all places, in the Twin Towers.

BOB PETERSON, CHANTYL'S FATHER: We're from small towns, and jeez, I think the tallest building where we're from is like four stories.

BELLINI: The plan had been to hold a reunion between his family and theirs every five years.

(on camera): Terry Farrell was a member of Rescue 4 in Queens, one of nine guys from here who lost their lives on September 11. His co-workers describe him as a quiet man, burly, but also gentle.

(voice-over): Terry's funeral brought together the many people whose lives he touched over the years.

C. PETERSON: One of Terry's friends last night took this off of his jacket and said that him and Terry had won this award for saving someone at a rescue. So they won this award together and he gave it to me.

BELLINI: Chantyl, her parents say, was devastated when she heard Terry was missing in the rubble, but she held out hope until his body was found.

B. PETERSON: We just set her down and told her that they had found Terry. And she was all smiles and, you know, is he OK? And we says, no, he, you know, they found his body.

BELLINI: Chantyl's parents decided to bring her to Terry's funeral to go through the grief with Terry's own children.

B. PETERSON: I lost my father when I was 19 and I think this is -- emotionally this has been harder on me because of what this gentlemen gave us.

BELLINI: The Peterson family grieves for someone who did something incredibly good and who died when people did something unbelievably bad.

(on camera): A moment that you think you'll always remember?

C. PETERSON: Putting the rose on his coffin.

BELLINI (voice-over): Saying goodbye to her true hero.

Jason Bellini, CNN, Long Island, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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