Every Day You Have a Choice. Make it Count.

When I first uttered these words, it was to myself as I waited to be fed. My hands lay spent and useless from the morning’s therapy and would remain strapped into splints, immobile, until the following day. I had 45 minutes to eat and rest before resuming my afternoon grind of physical therapy.

I was committed to moving forward, but at that moment I felt infinite helplessness, compounded by the forlorn view through the small hospital window onto a bleak meadow where matted yellow winter grass poked through the sparse snow cover in intermittent clumps beneath a leaden gray sky. It was January of 2002 and by then, I had been in the “Big House,” as I called the hospitals, for over three months. Those six months of institutional care and rehab merely started the nearly decade long trench warfare to recover from the catastrophic injury I’d sustained on 9/11.

I had the great pleasure of joining Katie Couric once again the other week! Since the beginning Katie has been a part of making a difference in my life. She didn’t just cover the story during the height of the tragic aftermath of 9.11, she has remained a part of my life and recovery always checking in and giving me the support and dignity so necessary to anyone going through difficult times.

How Lauren Manning Perseveres 12 Years After 9/11

Twelve years ago, as the world grappled watching the tragedy of the 9/11 attacks unfold; I endured a day that forever changed my life. When the fires blasted through the lobby of the north tower, seconds after the first plane was crashed into the building, I was engulfed in wall of flame and thousand-degree heat. I battled when it would have been far easier to yield to the pain and to simply let go, but I saw the face of my 10-month-old son and I vowed I wouldn’t leave him. Instead, I chose to fight and I decided to live.

When President Obama recently cited me regarding resilience—a tribute that took me completely by surprise—it was for my practicality at that moment rather than my eloquence. I was burned over more than 80 percent of my body, and the president quoted me saying, “That’s my reality. I put a Band-Aid on it, literally, and I move on.”

It was actually a lot more than a Band-Aid and it has been a fight that has lasted for years. I measured “moving on” back then in terms being able to inhale one second to the next. Almost no one thought I would survive and I couldn’t blame them as I lay in drug-induced coma for almost two months, my odds of survival lingering in the single digits. I remained in the hospital for more than half a year.

Read the rest on Katie’s site…

I was privileged to accept this honor and to help raise funds on behalf of this world-renowned organization. In my acceptance speech I talked about the team effort necessary to succeed in almost any endeavor in life. The honor that I received is one I share with all those at Burke who worked to help me become whole again.

Burke Rehabilitation Hospital and Medical Research Institute is an acute rehabilitation hospital that has been in existence since 1915. They are a leader in medical rehabilitation, providing inpatient and outpatient care for a broad range of neurological, musculoskeletal, cardiac, and pulmonary disabilities caused by disease or injury. The primary, overriding goal of the Burke Medical Research Institute (BMRI) is to develop novel therapeutic approaches that give hope to the acutely and chronically disabled. A second, critical part of the mission of BMRI is to foster and cultivate a pool of talented young scientists, clinicians, and clinician-scientists who will lead the next generation in studies on repair and rehabilitation of the nervous system.

Many friends and supporters gave so generously to this magical, healing place that rebuilds people’s lives and helps create a path forward for them into the world once again!