9/11 changed this New York couple's lives — and love — forever
Sonia Agron stood in the foyer of her apartment in the Bronx on Sept. 12, 2001, waiting for news of her husband. An NYPD officer at the time, Joe Agron had left a day earlier on his birthday after he saw the news that a plane had flown into one of New York City's Twin Towers.
Twelve hours had gone by since Sonia had last heard from him. While she waited for the dreadful knock on the door, she stared at a present she made for him, a frame with all the medals and certificates he had amassed throughout his career. Suddenly, Joe appeared at the door covered in soot.
It would be years before the couple was able to fully understand the damage caused to them on 9/11 and afterward. "Nothing was ever the same after that," Sonia said.
Joe survived cancer but continues to deal with lung and stomach issues, while Sonia has thyroid disease and fibromyalgia. They are among thousands who have suffered mental and physical health issues from 9/11. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates around 84,000 people have conditions related to exposure to dust, smoke, debris, and traumatic events.
Sonia said that they've now lost more people since 9/11 than they did on that day in 2001.
Both have struggled to maintain their hope and their health through their 40-year marriage. But leaning on each other, their family and the 9/11 community has kept them going, the couple said.
Responding on 9/11
Joe wasn't scheduled to work until the afternoon of 9/11 but after he saw the news, he went straight to his precinct office before heading downtown. When he arrived, the first tower had already fallen, generating a massive cloud of dust over lower Manhattan. Joe had responded during the 1993 bombing attack on the World Trade Center, but this was like nothing he'd ever dealt with before.
"All I thought was, what else can happen?" he said. "Because this is the biggest crime scene I've ever seen in my whole life."
His training instinct quickly kicked in and he and his fellow officers did the best they could to secure the perimeter of the site and direct people to the east and west sides.
Meanwhile, Sonia, a trained EMT, had made her way from Midtown back to the Bronx after receiving a frantic call from Joe telling her that the city was under attack and that she needed to get out. When she finally made it home later that evening she had no idea if Joe was alive. Still, she held out hope.
"I know his work ethic. I've worked with him before," she said of her husband who she married in 1984 after two years of living together. "I've seen him in action, and I knew that he would find a way out."
Twenty minutes later, the landline rang. It was Joe, calling to tell her he was safe and that he was going to get a break at 10 p.m. Sonia told him she loved him and wished him a happy birthday before hanging up. But her hopes were quickly dashed when she heard the news that 7 World Trade Center, near where he was working, had fallen. She didn't know what happened to Joe until he walked through the door the next day.
In the immediate aftermath, Joe returned to Ground Zero to assist with cleanup efforts. Weeks later, Sonia ventured to lower Manhattan to face the devastation as a volunteer for the Red Cross where she experienced for the first time the disparate world Joe had been plunged into.
"I knew what haunted my husband when he came home, because it was now haunting me," she said.
Sharing their story leads to healing
Native New Yorkers Joe and Sonia knew each other for several years before they got together. Sonia's brother-in-law worked with Joe in the NYPD and the two were close family friends. After Joe got divorced, he asked to see Sonia one night and made a playful bid for her affection. The two got married in 1984 and have a son from Joe's previous marriage, a daughter, and two granddaughters.
The majority of their careers were spent on the frontlines, Joe as an NYPD officer, and Sonia as an EMT. But 9/11 was completely new territory. The couple couldn't bring themselves to talk about their experiences. "It didn't bond us, not at the beginning," said Sonia.
Learning about the death of close friends like Officer Stephen P. Driscoll, who Joe had mentored, only pushed them further into darkness. "What she was going through I was going through in my own way," said Joe.
In addition to facing unbearable losses, both had also unknowingly inhaled toxic debris that would spark a series of debilitating illnesses. It would take years for them to realize their symptoms were a result of 9/11.
The World Trade Center Health Program – which treats 9/11 survivors and first responders – has provided support for their conditions. But Sonia and Joe still have to pay out of pocket for certain medications since not everything is covered.
Sonia said there are no guidelines for how to deal with the grief and stress of it all. But sharing their story, connecting with others affected by 9/11, and learning about the root cause of their illnesses has been an integral part of their healing journey.
Since becoming a volunteer at the 9/11 Tribute Center in 2009, Sonia has told her story hundreds of times to visitors.
Still, opening up to each other has been a slow, and at times, painful process for both of them. "He did show up one day when I had a talk, and that was the first time he heard what my daughter and I went through," Sonia said. "And he came home and he said, 'I'm so sorry. I didn't know.'"
The couple still has off days from time to time, but Sonia never lets them wallow for too long. The couple, Joe, 74, and Sonia, 67, get out of bed every day by 8 a.m. for coffee at their apartment in Co-op City and from there, they decide how they are going to spend their day. Once in a while Sonia relents and lets Joe go to his favorite fast-food joint, Taco Bell. "It doesn't take much to please this man," she joked.
It's these playful nudges from Sonia, Joe said, that pull him out of his funks.
"9/11 took a lot from me, but it didn't take out everything," said Joe. "My spirit is still there, and we fight. Her influence helps."
Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct a reference to 7 World Trade Center.
