Dear Janet,

Forgive me for contacting you out of the blue.

My name is Sally and I recently became a twinless twin. Before I begin, can I just say, how sorry I am for the loss of your son. I know Christopher died almost 10 years ago – but I don’t doubt you think about him each and every day – and miss him every bit as much as I do, my own brother….

On 22 September last year, my beautiful twin brother, Neil, dropped dead in his garden. He was 38 and it was a month before our 39th birthday – when he was due to fly home to Britain (he lived in LA with his wife and 2 year old daughter) to celebrate our big day with the whole family (2 other brothers, their families and my mum and dad). I’ll never forget that day – and the noise that came out of my mouth when I realised he was dead. The desperation I felt. The utter disbelief. And the total fear – at facing a future without him.

Such was my grief, that a couple of weeks before Christmas, I tried to contact the Twinless Twin Support Group. Unfortunately for me, I failed to get a response – but I did read the vast majority of their website, only to discover, that on the day of 9/11, a great many twins found themselves twinless, like me. I couldn’t believe how many twins had perished – the article said 43 (but it could be as many as 46 and no fewer than 37) – and I found myself wanting to find out more about the twins whose lives had been so deeply affected by such tragic and terrible circumstances. Partly because I thought it would help me; perhaps even heal me; partly because I wanted to know that, 10 years on, it does get easier (though I have a horrible feeling, it never really does. You just learn to accept it); and partly because, I myself, am a BBC film maker, and felt the need to share this story with a wider audience. Because it is an untold story. And it is an incredibly poignant story, too.

The BBC are very keen to commission an hour long film about the ‘Twins of the Twin Towers’ – a film that will not only tell the story of the 911 twins (in the towers, on the planes and at the Pentagon) but also explore twin loss and grief more generally – and I am in the process of trying to make contact with as many of the twins as possible.

I’d be very keen to talk to you – and of course to your daughter Paige, Chris’s twin sister – about that fateful day – and the impact it had on your life, then, now and over the last decade. As you can imagine, Neil’s death is still very raw for me right now but I feel an overriding desire to create something positive out of something so overwhelming negative. It’s what Neil would have wanted, too. I’m sure of it.

Forgive the informality of my approach, but I somehow know you and more especially, your daughter Paige, will understand my loss in a way few others will.

Would you / Paige be willing to talk on the phone at any stage? No worries if not – I know grief is a very private thing, but I thought I should reach out regardless.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Very best wishes

Sally

Sally Lisk-Lewis
Head of Development | BBC Factual

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Broadcasting House, Llandaff, Cardiff, CF5 2YQ
8 Sally.Lisk-Lewis@bbc.co.uk
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