On September 11, 2001, security guard Dereck Lovell helped six people escape from the burning South Tower of the World Trade Center by leading them to a hidden staircase. Now, nearly 25 years later, those survivors are rallying support for Lovell who is battling kidney cancer and needs a transplant. Doug Brown, one of the individuals rescued, recounts how Lovell's intervention was crucial in their survival and emphasizes the lasting impact Lovell had on his life.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-12,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
When the World Trade Center was engulfed in smoke and flames on September 11, 2001, a security guard carrying a flashlight and bullhorn appeared to six people who were struggling to find a way out of the South Tower.
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who → engulf → Tower
He was Dereck Lovell, who was filling in that day and had never previously worked on their floor.
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who → fill → floor
Lovell guided the group towards a functioning staircase, helping them escape from a building that would collapse minutes later.
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that → guide → building
Nearly 25 years on, the man those survivors credit with saving their lives is facing a different fight.
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survivors → credit → fight
In interviews with PEOPLE, Doug Brown recalled how Lovell helped the group escape, while Lovell revealed that he is battling kidney cancer and now needs a transplant.
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he → recall → transplant
A chance assignment on a day that changed everything
Lovell, now 68, was working as a security guard at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
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Lovell → change → September
He had been filling in as a security guard on the 70th floor of the South Tower when the second hijacked plane struck the building.
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plane → fill → building
The impact sent Lovell flying from his chair towards an elevator.
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impact → send → elevator
He suffered a shoulder injury but was able to continue helping people evacuate.
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people → suffer → injury
As smoke spread through the tower, he carried a flashlight and bullhorn while directing workers towards a usable staircase.
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he → spread → staircase
Among those searching for an escape route were Doug Brown and five colleagues from Morgan Stanley.
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Brown → search → Stanley
Brown, who was then an associate national sales director, recalled that the group was surrounded by smoke, flames and collapsing ceilings.
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group → recall → smoke
The stairways they knew about had been destroyed, leaving the group disoriented.
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they → know → group
Visibility was so poor that Brown could see only about an arm's length ahead.
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Brown → see → ?
Then he heard Lovell's voice.
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he → hear → voice
“Follow me,” the security guard told them, according to Brown's recollection.
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guard → follow → recollection
Lovell led the six people to a staircase only about 15 feet away.
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Lovell → lead → staircase
Brown had never known the stairwell was there and initially mistook it for a broom closet.
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stairwell → know → closet
That small discovery became critical to their survival.
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discovery → become → survival
The guard kept helping even after finding an escape route
Lovell did not simply direct Brown and his colleagues towards the stairs and leave.
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Lovell → keep → stairs
After helping the group get into the stairwell, he continued searching the floor and found three more employees whom he also guided towards safety before beginning his own descent.
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he → help → descent
For Brown, the encounter remained one of the defining moments of his life.
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encounter → remain → life
“If Dereck hadn't been there,” Brown told PEOPLE, “I think best-case scenario we would've had dumb luck and found that stairwell.”
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we → tell → stairwell
Brown and his colleagues later managed to identify the security guard who had helped them.
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who → manage → them
Days after the attacks, they tracked Lovell down and invited him to Morgan Stanley's temporary offices in Jersey City, New Jersey, where they thanked him personally.
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they → track → him
Lovell recalled the meeting, saying that everyone hugged him and thanked him.
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everyone → recall → him
The connection between Lovell and Brown did not end that day.
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connection → end → Lovell
The two have remained in contact for almost 25 years.
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two → remain → years
A second rescue unfolded during the escape
Brown's own journey to safety also involved another life-saving act.
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journey → unfold → act
While descending the tower, Brown and a colleague encountered Silvion Ramsundar, an investment executive who had been on the 78th floor.
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who → descend → floor
Ramsundar was severely wounded and covered in blood.
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Ramsundar → wound → blood
The two survivors fashioned a makeshift compress from a handkerchief to slow the bleeding from a wound near his heart.
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survivors → fashion → heart
They then helped Ramsundar descend roughly 60 floors before reaching an ambulance, only minutes before the South Tower collapsed.
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Tower → help → ambulance
Doctors later found that a piece of metal about the size of a playing card had lodged near Ramsundar's aorta.
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piece → find → aorta
He also suffered a broken collarbone and a collapsed lung.
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He → suffer → collarbone
Ramsundar has previously told PEOPLE that he remains grateful to Brown for helping him survive that morning.
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him → tell → Brown
The stories of Lovell, Brown and Ramsundar illustrate how survival on September 11 often depended on strangers helping one another amid conditions that were changing by the minute.
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that → illustrate → minute
Nearly 25 years later, Lovell needs help
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Lovell → need → help
The relationship between Lovell and Brown has taken on a new meaning as the 25th anniversary of the attacks approaches.
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anniversary → take → attacks
According to PEOPLE, Lovell was diagnosed with kidney cancer last September.
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Lovell → accord → cancer
…and 15 more, not listed.
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