It took 24 years for this 9/11 family to finally get a little solace.
But Ryan Fitzgerald’s sisters are grateful to the city workers who, using only a tiny bone fragment, were recently able to identify their brother — a “larger than life” figure who inspired one of them to become an FDNY firefighter.
“He was one of the very few who always told me … you’ll be able to do it and you can do it,” Elizabeth Parks, a Queens firefighter since 2016, told The Post this week about her older brother encouraging her to pursue her dream.
“He would tell me all the time that I can do it and I’ll get it someday. And I knew when I had the opportunity I had to give it my all, and I’m so thankful I did,” she said. “I just hope that he’s proud, proud of me.”
Fitzgerald’s remains were officially identified on Aug. 7, bringing a wave of emotions to his parents who never stopped talking about their 26-year-old boy, and to the pair of younger sisters who idolized him.
“For my parents finding anything was, in a way, bringing him home or like bringing him back with the family and where he belongs,” Caroline Parks, who was around 10 when terrorists attacked on Sept. 11, 2001.
A small fragment of bone found on West Street and Liberty Avenue was matched to Fitzgerald thanks to advanced DNA technology used by the city’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner, which is still working to identify remains of 9/11 victims found in the Ground Zero wreckage.
Elizabeth, of Bayside, and Caroline, of New Jersey, provided their DNA a couple months ago, but didn’t think much of it at the time.
Weeks later, a medical examiner staffer called their mother, Diane Parks, to deliver the news she’d waited more than two decades to receive.
When she got off the phone, she looked like a “ghost,” recalled Caroline, a 33-year-old project manager in advertising.
“It felt like the 11th was just yesterday,” added Elizabeth, who was around 16 years old at the time of the attacks. “It was like the last 24 years has just been … our lives have been on pause.”
The family’s ordeal began that clear morning when Fitzgerald arrived early for work as a foreign currency trader at Fiduciary Trust International on the 97th floor of the south tower. He’d just gotten a promotion and wanted to make a good impression, Elizabeth said.
When the first plane spiraled into the north tower, Ryan called his mother to let her know he was alright and the plan was to leave the building.
Based on where his remains were found, Elizabeth believes he was on his way down the stairs when the skyscraper came down.
“I always thought he probably never made it down and now I wonder how far down he made it,” she said.
Ryan grew up in Queens before his family moved to the village of Floral Park when he started high school. He played baseball, basketball and golf, and often went to Yankees games to watch his favorite player, star shortstop Derek Jeter.
Caroline remembered climbing on her “larger than life” brother, who was about 6-foot-3, and having him carry her everywhere.
“He really was the most laid back, chill, just kind of fun-loving guy,” she said.
About eight months before he was killed, Ryan moved to Manhattan, where he enjoyed taking his girlfriend, Darci, out to dinner at a variety of his familiar spots where they knew who he was and “treated him like a king,” Elizabeth said.
“But he was very kind, very kind hearted as well. He never put himself above anybody,” she said.
Even into his mid-20s, Ryan had remained close with a group of friends from elementary school, and they and other loyal buddies still keep in touch with his family and go out about once a year to commemorate the loss.
Elizabeth said she leaned on the memory of her brother — who was always her biggest cheerleader — when pursuing her dream of becoming an FDNY firefighter.
“Ryan was without a doubt my entire heart throughout the whole process … even up until today just knowing in the back of my mind I think he would be so proud of,” said Elizabeth, who started as an FDNY EMT in 2010 before she began fighting fires in 2016.
“He was so proud of all of us, but he was absolutely the reason why I strive for what I did and was able to complete because of him.”
Along with being assigned to a Jamaica station house, she is also on the ceremonial unit that participates in various events, including funerals and memorial services for firefighters that have died from 9/11 related illnesses.
In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, both sisters held out hope that their brother was in a hospital bed, waiting to be reunited with his family, while his then-girlfriend, Darci, put up heartwrenching “Missing” posters with his picture and her phone number.
“You know it’s never gonna happen, but it could be like, ‘oh, what if he comes around the corner one day,’” Caroline said.
“You kind of tap into that little childhood mindset of thinking sometimes so this just really brings that to like a closure for me.”
But the sisters said that their brother finally being identified, and his remains being returned to them, also raises more questions about his final moments.
“It’s just another piece of the puzzle that we now have, that we now continue to live with,” Caroline said.
“We have such a strong system of support because Ryan was so well known but everyone’s like, ‘oh now you have some closure’ but we don’t,” added Elizabeth. “I just have new questions and thoughts, but at least it’s a different feeling to have a little piece of him that we can honor.”
She hopes the 24-year revelation will serve as a message to other 9/11 families longing for their loved ones to be identified to never give up.
Ryan and two women — Palm Springs, California grandmother Barbara Keating and another victim whose family did not want her to be publicly identified — were the 1,651st, 1,652nd and 1,653rd victims tied to remains last week. That leaves another 1,100 victims that still need to be identified.
“There hasn’t ever been one day that my mom and dad haven’t spoken about Ryan, whether it was a happy memory or just wondering if they’ll ever find him or just wondering what ever happened,” Elizabeth said.
“You can’t lose hope even though you may have given up years ago.”
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