NEW YORK (WCBS 880) – The Tunnel to Towers Foundation's annual stair-climb was held Sunday in lower Manhattan. It's a charity event that has hundreds of people climbing all 102 floors of One World Trade Center.
USMC Sgt. Rob Jones conquered the climb using only his upper body strength. He was in the Marine Corps from 2006 to 2011 and lost both legs above the knee in Afghanistan.
"So for me as a double, above-knee amputee, I wear really short legs. So what I do is I kind of have one hand on the railing and I have one hand on the steps and I just kind of bear crawl up using the railing and my stumps and my hands," Jones said.
The charity climb is personal for Jones as the Tunnel to Towers Foundation built him his new home mortgage free. He took in the view at the top of the tower after the ascent.
"It's a relief because you get to be done, but the pain that we're feeling is nothing compared to the pain of the families of the victims of 9/11 and the families of fallen service members," he said.
Another climber, Steve Simmons, pointed to his shirt. It had a photo of his brother Marty, who died after 9/11 from health conditions related to his work at the site as a firefighter for Ladder 11.
“He was down on a pile for 12 straight days, looking for his engine company, which they lost all their members,” Simmons said.
Steve did the 2,226-step climb up the tower last year. This year, he brought his son Mike along.
“It’s a lot harder than I expected. I mean I always do the Stairmaster at the gym, but it’s nothing like that, because going up, it’s hard,” Mike Simmons said.
The father and son felt compelled to make the climb to pay respect not just to their brother and uncle, Marty, but also to everyone who died on 9/11 and who has died since because of their heroic efforts.
“I personally think we’ve got to keep this alive,” Steve Simmons said. “We can never forget what happened that day, and this is one way we can keep that going.”