| $8M
for 9/11 victim
By
WILLIAM SHERMAN
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Friday, June 4th, 2004
A
32-year-old West Side woman brutally injured in
the 9/11 terrorist attacks has been awarded $8.6
million by the federal Victim Compensation Fund,
the largest payment under the program so far.
Deborah
Mardenfeld, a human resources executive at American
Express, was walking on Vesey St. shortly after
9 a.m. when she was crushed by debris falling from
the second plane that slammed into the World Trade
Center.
"I
had just left the subway, I was in the underground
mall and a man told us to go out onto the street,"
she told the Daily News.
"I
looked up, I saw the second plane hit, I heard someone
scream 'Run' and I ran, and that's the last thing
I remember," she said.
Her
ordeal is beyond agonizing.
Mardenfeld
almost bled to death that day and needed an immediate
transfusion of 31 pints of blood.
Her
buttocks were sliced off, her back was split open,
her intestines were punctured and her legs were
crushed and fractured, among other injuries.
She
spent the next 15 months in hospitals, the first
five at NYU Downtown Hospital, and then 10 more
months at the Rusk Institute for rehabilitation.
"She
had 27 different reconstructive operations and needs
10 more in the future," said attorney Guy Smiley
of Manhattan, who represented Mardenfeld for free
in her case with the compensation fund.
Smiley
said the $8.6 million award was split into $4 million
for pain and suffering and $4.6 million for medical
costs, care she will need for the rest of her life
and loss of income.
"I
would give every penny back to change what happened,"
Mardenfeld said.
Sometimes
she can walk for very short distances with a walker,
but she must use a wheelchair even to get to a car.
All
the while, her fiancé, Gregory St. John,
a microbiologist and immunologist, has stayed by
her side.
"He's
an amazing person," she said. "We plan
to get married, we love each other, we support each
other, but right now my recovery is the focus of
my life."
Mardenfeld
would like to go back to work some day. She has
a master's degree in human resources management.
"I
have hopes of returning to a normal life but I can't
look past this year," she said. "I look
at it day by day and try to make the most of my
recovery. I still believe in all the possibilities
of what my life can be."
The
Victim Compensation Fund has issued awards for 2,569
injury claims. Payments have ranged from a low of
$500 to Mardenfeld's award.
For
those who died, the fund has offered awards for
5,162 claimants, generally relatives, and the average
payment has been $2.1 million.
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