How FDNY Firefighter Who Died on 9/11 Still Inspires His Daughter
By Movieguide® Contributor
Twenty-three years after the loss of her father during 9/11, Casey Spor explained how she is finding strength and inspiration from her dad to fight and overcome her biggest struggle yet.
Joseph P. Spor Jr. rushed into the South Tower and helped save dozens of lives before being caught in the building when it collapsed. Though Casey was only 6 when she lost her dad, she remembers him fondly and continues to be inspired by him to this day.
“My dad was just the most fun-loving guy,” Casey told CBS News. “Always had a smile on his face, and so I’ve always tried to make that myself.”
She chose to take on her father’s bravery in the face of danger in 2019 after being diagnosed with brain cancer at only 24 years old and finding little optimism from the doctors.
“I started getting like weird symptoms, like facial paralysis, things like that,” she said. “I was like, something’s just not sitting right with me.”
“I was pretty much given nine months to live at the time,” she added.
Casey, however, has fought hard, and five years later, she continues the struggle. Her biggest goal had been to walk down the aisle at her wedding — which she was able to do last October.
“On her bouquet, she had a pin with her father’s picture in it that says, ‘You walk beside me every day,’ and I know he does. He walks beside all of us,” said Casey’s mother, Colleen.
Having endured two brain surgeries and months of chemotherapy, Casey has fought the disease as much as she can but still suffers from an inoperable brain tumor.
“She handled herself with such dignity and grace and bravery,” Colleen said.
Casey, meanwhile, hopes to be an inspiration to others just as her father was to her.
“Just never give up hope,” Casey said. “If I could just help one person…could hear my story and know they can make it through the hard days, too.”
Movieguide® previously reported on how 9/11 continues to inspire:
[Gary] Sinise said that his desire to make a difference for veterans grew after the tragic events of 9/11.
“A lot of things were kind of put in place in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, that sort of grew into this full-on mission after September 11,” he said. “I can point to a lot of the veterans in my own family, a lot of the veterans I engaged with back in the ’80s in Chicago, to having a significant impact on me, and were very influential on what I would end up doing after September 11, which was to just focus on trying to help them through difficult times.”
“I remember after September 11, 2001, I just found this aching, this terrible feeling, this broken heart, this sadness, and I remember going to our little Catholic Church on the Friday after the Tuesday,” he continued. “And the priest, I don’t even know if he said this, but I heard it, that service to others can be a great way to heal your broken heart. And I don’t know if he said it, but I heard it, and I tried to turn that into action.”
The Gary Sinise Foundation serves not only military personnel and their families but also first responders. Sinise said this was also brought on by what he witnessed on September 11.
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