By Frank Sinatra, AAP Editor
During the terror attacks on September 11, 2001, 10-year-old Daniel Jimenez was a little too young to understand the true gravity of the moment. But an image from that day has stuck in the mind of the Pennsauken native to this day.
“I remember coming home, seeing my mother sitting on the bed in tears,” says Jimenez. “I just thought to myself, ‘We need to come together.’ I wanted to do something.”
Jimenez decided to create and sell red, white and blue unity bracelets, with the proceeds going to charity. That simple idea grew into something much bigger. “I got so many orders; I needed my entire family to help make them all.”
Daniel was able to raise $1,300 from the bracelets. A photo published in the December 2001 issue of All Around Pennsauken, stated that $1,000 of that was combined with other initiatives from the Township to raise over $25,000 for the New York City Police and Fire Fighters Widows and Orphans Fund. The other $300 went to purchase toys for the Salvation Army to give to needy families during the holidays.
But Daniel still wanted to do more. The terror attacks of September 11, 2001 were at the front of his mind when he enlisted into the Marine Corps in 2009, serving as a combat engineer in the Middle East. It was during the war on terror that Jimenez was wounded several times during his tour of duty, the last being a 120-lb. improvised explosive device or IED blowing up under the vehicle he was in.
“I got banged around like a pinball,” explains Jimenez. “I’ve had surgery after surgery. My body has so much damage.”
Now permanently disabled, the Marine Corps retired Daniel due to medical reasons in 2014. Even with a great deal of support from his family and his wife, Angela, there were days where he wasn’t sure he could go on.
Then, something extraordinary happened. After being told by doctors that it was unlikely for the couple to have children due to the severity of his injuries, Daniel and Angela found out they were expecting. Their daughter, Scarlett Sky, was born on September 11, 2015.
“Feeling my daughter kick inside of Angela, it gave me something to live for,” says Daniel. “She really saved me.”
Daniel isn’t the only one to see Scarlett’s impact on him. “He is the most doting father,” says Michelle, Daniel’s mother. “He loves her to pieces.”
So after one day in September set Daniel on a path to service – a path of sacrifice that left him broken and scarred – that same day has given him a precious little miracle that has changed his life once again.
“She has really given me a second chance.”
