AUSTIN, Texas — For Courtney Clark, memories of her time living in New York City are precious. But on Sept. 11, 2001, she and the world were watching as an unfathomable nightmare came to life.
On that horrid day, America lost it's innocence and thousands of innocent people perished in the blink of an eye.
Clark was 22 years old, working 16 blocks away from where World Trade Center collapsed.
"It was such a traumatic experience," Clark said. "And yet, I am so fully aware that I'm one of the lucky ones. It almost just more looked like the towers disappeared into this plume of smoke. Like, it was just ... it was there on the skyline, and then it just wasn't because it went down and the smoke came up."
For months following the attacks, Clark continued to work in lower Manhattan.
"We didn't know at the time what was in the dust, and we didn't know to be afraid," she said.
Now, so many years later, the memories and medical issues remain.
"When I was 26 years old, four years after Sept. 11, I was diagnosed with invasive, malignant melanoma for the first time," Clark said.
When she was 28, doctors found another melanoma spot on her upper thigh. At 36, they found another on her shoulder.
"It was something called an AML, Amelanotic melanoma, meaning it didn't have any pigment in it," she said.
Doctors found another melanoma spot on her lower leg in 2021. Clark couldn't understand why this was happening to her, as she never spent hours in the sun and no one else in her family had a history of this kind of cancer.
"I just thought my body was broken. Something was wrong with me," Clark said. "I never connected it to Sept. 11."
It wasn't until her husband discovered the World Trade Center Health Program that Clark realized why cancer seemed to seek her out.
The World Trade Center Health Program monitors and treats first responders and survivors who were directly affected by the 9/11 attacks – tens of thousands, who like Clark, were within a mile or two of the burning debris and toxic dust for months after the attack.
"I am officially certified as a World Trade Center survivor. And that's the cause of my cancer and my asthma," Clark said. "When I got certified, when they officially said, 'Yes, we agree your cancer and your asthma were caused by your exposure.' They gave me a secondary insurance."
Life had another curveball to throw Clark's way.
"At one of my cancer scans, they found a brain aneurysm that was about to hemorrhage," she said. "I had to have three brain surgeries in eight days to remove the brain aneurysm."
For more than 20 years, Clark's life has been filled with so much trauma and uncertainty, but for her, it's become an opportunity to rewrite her story. Professionally, she's using her life experience to empower others, helping them as a resilience coach. And years ago, Clark and her husband adopted a teenager who is now married and successful.
As she looks back on the 22nd anniversary of 9/11, she's finding purpose in her journey, which is forever linked to a global tragedy.
"When things happen to us, it is our job to make meaning of them on the back end so we can take that and move on with our lives," Clark said. "I have a responsibility to take all of these circumstances challenging as they may be and find meaning."