Eric Leinung was 12-years-old when his big brother, Paul, went into work on the 100th floor of the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001.  Paul didn't make it out. When adolescents are faced with a traumatic event research shows that they often vent their feelings through aggression and rage. Eric spent his teen years fighting, sometimes physically, with his mom.  Now, ten years after the Twin Towers collapsed, Eric reports on how he found his way through his family's loss. 

Today is the first of the Radio Rookies series Our 9/11: Growing Up In the Aftermath.  Jillian Suarez’s story is one she says she doesn't want to tell with tears.  Jillian’s father, a New York City police officer, didn't come home on September 11th and for three months her mother held out hope he would be found alive -- until she received a call that his remains had been found.  Now 18 years old, Jillian rarely speaks about the loss she feels.  For this piece, she decided to push through her silence to sit down with some of the closest people in her life, including her mom, to talk about her father’s death and what his absence has meant in her life. 

Until recently all Victoria (Vikky) Cruz knew was that her mother was sick. Her mother hasn't been able to walk in years, can barely speak and goes into rages, but no one ever told Vikky why. Now, at 17-years-old, Vikky struggles to cope with her mother's illness, a rare gentetic disease called neuroacanthytosis, and the ways it's taken over the mother she once knew.

Last year at a routine check-up, 15-year-old Raymond Henderson decided to tell the truth. When his doctor noticed bruises on his neck, Raymond admitted that his stepfather was abusing him. The Administration for Children's Services took Raymond and his sister Monica from their step-dad who’d raised them since their mother's death 13 years ago. Now they’re living with Ophelia, the home health attendant who cared for their mother as she was dying. Ophelia wants to give Raymond and Monica a permanent home. But faced with a decision that could shape his entire future, Raymond isn't sure. He worries that letting Ophelia adopt him would mean cutting ties with his old life and family.

Shirley Diaz’s life has been shaped by the tragedy of her mother’s murder, and the difficulty of growing up in six different foster homes, separated from her six younger siblings. To avoid being consumed by loss, Shirley tries to make sense of these events and find refuge in home and family as she finds them.

Anthony's sixth grade teacher made an extraordinary impact on his life. Ms. Figueroa pushed Anthony in class and showed him that she truly cared. In the summer after his sixth grade year, she died suddenly from a brain aneurysm. More than two years later, Anthony is still dealing with his grief over her loss.

Sunnie Hwang moved to the US from Korea, hoping she would find the happiness she had as a child -- when her parents were still alive.

Eric is one of thousands of children growing up without his birth parents. His father was murdered when he was 3 years old. His mother was addicted to drugs. Eric has lived with his grandmother all his life. She takes good care of him, but he still feels something is missing.

Janesse says she and her mother have one thing in common -- they were both betrayed by Janesse's father. He left them for Heroin when she was in elementary school.

Marc Delgado is 14 and in the 10th grade at a small public school in Harlem. Marc didn't have to go far to report his story -- it takes place at his own home.