Genelle Guzman-McMillan was 30 years old and working as an administrate assistant on the 64th floor of the North Tower of the New York World Trade Center when the first of two hijacked passenger jets slammed into both buildings on September 11, 2001.

American Airlines Flight 17 flew into the North Tower at 8:46 a.m., followed by United Airlines Flight 77 crashing into the South Tower seventeen minutes later.

The news media initially reported that a small plane crashed into the North Tower, but they realized their mistake a few minutes later, when a second passenger jet crashed into the South Tower.

Some workers ran down the darkened stairs to escape while others leaped from the top floors of the building before they were burned to death, only to be killed by the building’s concrete base. 

Some 2,996 people were killed in the attack, which the New York Times headlined as the U.S. was under attack. 

Guzman-Millian, however, wasn’t one of the deceased, although she was trapped in the tower’s wreckage and was the last person to be rescued. Guzman-Millian is being recognized as the last survivor rescued from the horrific event that remains forever in people’s minds.

When the building shook from the impact of the second plane, she and her coworkers raced to the stairwell to escape. Guzman-McMillan tightly held hands with her friend, Rosa. She recalled, “We reached the landing on the thirteenth floor. I let go of Rosa’s hand to yank off my heels. As I did, there was another loud explosion. The force of it knocked us backward. We heard a rum­bling noise that grew louder and loud­er. Suddenly, everything went dark,” Guzman-McMillan explained.

She was trapped in the rubble of the North Tower, believing she would die.

At 10:28 a.m., Guzman-McMillan was trapped under the rubble of the North Tower. Her face was burning, her right leg had been crushed, and her head was reportedly pinned between two concrete pillars. 

The only body part she could move was her left arm. And just as she was beginning to give up hope, she prayed and thought of her daughter. “I was thinking I’m going to die. I knew I wasn’t going to get out. I’m preparing myself to die,” she expressed.

Then a hand reaches through the rubble

That’s when she felt a hand reach out. It was a hand on her shoulder that said, “I’m right here. I’m not going to leave you.” Genelle said the person asked her name, and she asked for his in return.

The name of the stranger behind the voice was “Paul.” Since her head was pinned, she could not turn around to look at Paul, all she could do was hear his voice. But when she was finally pulled from the wreckage, “Paul” was nowhere to be found.

She became the last person alive rescued from the Twin Towers. 

Her only explanation was that she was saved by a miracle

McMillan was not stronger or smarter than those who died. She did not have special training on how to cope when buried by a 110-story skyscraper.

She did not even have an especially loud voice to call for help through the knotted steel and jumbled concrete that fell around her.

Only one explanation really makes sense: If you believe in miracles, McMillan’s survival was just that…a miracle.

“I believe in miracles. I believe in second chances,” explains Guzman. “I also believe that adversity is a bridge to having a closer, deeper relationship with God. It’s not about what I want, it’s about what Jesus Christ wants from me.”

Today, she still lives and works in the heart of New York City as a supervisor for the Port Authority at LaGuardia Airport. A well-known fighter and survivor, she’s also taken on the role of a motivational speaker.