FORT WORTH, Texas — The 9/11 anniversary in New York and at the Pentagon will take on an entirely new meaning for a Fort Worth Police officer this year.
In July 2017, Officer Denise Vitek landed her dream job as a peace officer. But over the past few months, she has been working on her physical stamina to join an annual event with her fellow first responders.
"We do a 911 stair climb every year," Vitek said.
She's been training for a tower climb in honor of the 2,977 people killed when the Twin Towers collapsed in 2001.
They will receive the name of a New York area first responder who died that day. To honor them, Vitek will join local first responders climbing 36 floors three times for the 110 floors of the World Trade Center.
Vitek said she wants to learn as much as possible about the person's name she receives for the climb.
"Everybody climbs for a certain person, everybody gets assigned a victim," Vitek said.
But there's a deeper reason for Officer Vitek's climb. In 2001 she was an 8th grader and her uncle William Eisengrein was a New York firefighter.
Her father picked her up at school that day and did not mention the attack on the way home. When they got in the house she knew something was wrong. Her father insisted that the entire family stay glued to the television to watch the 9/11 coverage. It was then that Denise put two and two together realizing her father's brother was in New York, working as a firefighter.
"It was very hard to get a hold of him for a while because they did, from what I found out later, they did 24-hour shifts," Vitek said.
During the search and rescue operations at ground zero, her Uncle Bill and two of his colleagues spotted an American Flag on the ground.
Eventually, Vitek learned from her uncle what they did with the flag. This is what he told her "We were taking a break, and we were walking. And we saw the flag and it wasn't you know, we just were like it almost felt like it was disrespectful to leave it."
A photographer snapped the now-famous photo which includes her uncle. That same photo got attention from the White House, became a postage stamp, and made national headlines around the world. For Vitek, it has since been a reminder of the impact 9/11 had on people everywhere.
Her Uncle Bill and his fellow firefighters also got a chance to meet President George Bush. There is also a life-like wax figure of the trio raising the flag at ground zero.
"Everybody is an American today. And we're going to come together and we're going to be one and support each other," Vitek said.
As a first responder, Vitek hopes crowds will come to support her and other first responders as they climb City Center in downtown Fort Worth on Saturday, Sept 14.
More importantly, she is thankful for the opportunity to also do the climb in his honor, and more importantly that her uncle survived 9/11.
"Because his entire firehouse that day was killed," Vitek said.
First Responders can sign up to participate in the annual event by visiting the City Center Website here.