NYC 9/11 Firefighter Chained to a Wheelchair Shares Wedding Dance with His Daughter

Dennis Snider could not let his rare form of ALS prevent him from sharing his daughter’s joy during her wedding. The heroic 911 firefighter was all smiles during the dance.

Dennis Snyder was at Ground Zero when the 9/11 explosion happened, trying to rescue survivors of the horror incident. For the last 15 years, he has been battling ALS. He shared his daughter's special day with her.

The father-daughter duo was all smiles as they shared the special moment, with Snyder in his motorized wheelchair and his daughter Tenaya seated on his lap, as the song “Sweet Child of Mine” played on.

Emotions were running high at the wedding as the duo celebrated the day and danced to the music. Attendees of the wedding cheered them on as they cruised the dancefloor.

Tenaya says she and her husband came up with the song, and she felt it was appropriate as she and her dad loved listening to it from way back. Her brother shared the reception photos and wrote:

"There wasn't a dry eye in the building."

Close to 3,000 people lost their lives and 6,000 injured in the September 11, 2001 incident when the Al Qaeda hijackers flew airplanes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

The buildings were workplaces to thousands of people, and many were able to escape unharmed. However, many more did all they could to try and save lives and prevent further injuries and deaths.

He then went back into the building with the firefighters to help rescue victims.

Some have since suffered from 9/11 incident-related injuries, and some have since lost their lives. The New York fire department honored the 27 department members that had lost their lives from the injuries in a closed ceremony at the FDNY Headquarters.

The 27 have brought the total number of firefighters killed from the attack to a total of 227. This is in addition to the 343 members who died on September 11, 2001. During the ceremony, Commissioner Danil Nigro said:

"Our department made a solemn promise to never forget the bravery and sacrifice of the 343 members who gave their lives on September 11th"

Among the heroes of the stories were others who made it their mission to rescue the injured, among them a 24-year-old equities trader Welles Crowther. Just a few minutes after the airplanes crashed, he called his mother to say that he was ok.

He then went back into the building with the firefighters to help rescue victims. He would coerce others to help if they could. Unfortunately, he did not come out alive, and his body was later found alongside other firefighters in a stairwell.

Jason Thomas was on his way to Long Island to drop off his daughter at his mother’s house when he heard what had happened. He did not think twice as he changed into his Marine Corps uniform and sped towards New York.

Thomas and another former Marine, Dave Karnes, started searching through the rubble of dust, concrete, and metal, calling out to any survivors to yell if they could hear them. They saw to the rescuing of two officers trapped under the mess.