World Trade Center Disaster:
A personal story

Friends:

First off, for those of you who have offered calls and emails of support, thank you. I am safe and thankful to be home.

The ordeal in NYC was life changing. For those of you who aren't aware, I was on an Air Canada flight Tuesday AM that flew over the World Trade Center as it burned, but before the second air collision. We landed at LaGuardia safely at 9:05 AM and I have spent four days getting home. I returned Friday 6 AM after driving 15 hrs with a group of Canadian journalists in the same predicament. You can read an interview here.

Many in Canada saw my live reports on CityTV/CP24. I hope they helped provide perspective. I felt an obligation as a journalist to get the word out about what I saw, the people I spoke to, and to provide vital communication in such an awful moment in history. It also provided me with a focus away from the emotional tumult. You cna read my thoughts about this in a columnI wrote for the Edmonton Journal newspaper

Also my deep condolences to those of you who have lost friends, colleagues and family members in the disaster. And my sincerest hope to those that are still searching.

A note to the team at IBM Canada and Continental Technologies: Thank you for your support during the ordeal and for helping us get home. And for the unrestricted access to resources to help us return safely.

Thank you to my travel companions Michelle, Steve, David, Jeff, Liam and Sandy. You helped me keep it together. And to the staff at the Mill House Inn in East Hampton, NY, that made us comfortable.

May we find strength somehow during in this awful tragedy. May we also find some good somehow, somewhere.

Please feel free to contact me if you'd liike to share your thoughts. I can be reached at andy@cyberwalker.com

-Andy Walker
Cyberwalker Media

We encourage you to donate resources to the Red Cross in ongoing efforts to aid Americans in this time of great need.

Donate via Red Cross in Canada
Donate via the American Red Cross
Donate through Yahoo
Donate through DisasterRelief.org
Donate via the NY Firefighter's Fund
Donate via the Salvation Army
Donate via the United Way

Media interviews given by Andy Walker
-- 10 reports over 3 days filed to CityTV and CP24
-- Global TV National News (Wed. PM 11pm)
-- Globe and Mail
-- Edmonton Journal and Southam Newswire
-- Andy's column in the Edmonton Journal