 Welcome to another edition of Yes, We're Here! I'm Meredith Morakovitz. I have the privilege of talking to two heroes. One, a former FDNY firefighter in Eugene Pugliese. The other, a nurse battling coronavirus on the front lines in New York City, her name is Deirdre Taylor. These two had met before, nearly 40 years ago, when Eugene saved Deirdre and her mother from a burning Manhattan apartment building. They have not seen each other since, but were recently reunited during the pandemic. I was born in New York City. I lived in a loft with my mother down on Wooster Street in the village. And the loft had become engulfed in flames. There was a big fire that had broken out in December of 1983. And I was rescued by a firefighter that day. And the story ended up making the front page of the New York Daily News. While I don't remember much of the incident, because I was so young, I think I had just turned four at the time. I did have a copy of the Daily News article that's, I've kept with me pretty much my entire life. I have always known that I was given a second chance at life. And I've always known that I had Eugene Pugliese to thank for that. Over the years, I've thought about him multiple times. And when I decided to come up to New York City to help out with the COVID-19 crisis. For some reason, I decided to put that article in my suitcase with the hopes of tracking him down while I was there. How did you go about tracking him down? Yeah, so one night, when I was working in the emergency department at NYU Langone in Brooklyn, we received pizza that was delivered by some firefighters. And we got news overhead that there was pizza up front. And I went out just to say thank you to the firefighters and ended up kind of following one of them out into the ambulance bay. And briefly shared my story. I had mentioned that I had been rescued by a firefighter back in 1983 and I was looking to track him down and was looking for any pointers. You know, what's the best way to go about it? You know, if there was a database of retired firefighters, I knew that he would be around 75 years old at this point in time. And so they asked me if I knew what ladder company he was associated with. And one of them happened to have all of the phone numbers for the captains of all the New York City fire firehouses. And so he handed me a phone number and at the end of my shift, once I got home, I decided to give the firehouse a call. And much to my surprise, the captain when he answered the phone knew exactly who I was looking for. He said he got really excited when I mentioned Eugene's name and said that he still stops by the firehouse all the time. And he even had his phone number, you know, in his cell phone and he'd be be happy to give him a call as soon as we hung up and that he was sure that he would be happy to hear from me. Jean, I have to imagine that was a surprise of a lifetime right there. Yes, it was. It was just wonderful. I cried all day. And that's a true meeting this wonderful young woman who is a hero in my eyes also. So it was just a nice, nice thing to happen. Deirdre has been on my wall in my Yankee cave for the last 25 years. Actually, underneath the picture is an old seat from the stadium. And about a week ago Friday, I got this wonderful call from this wonderful young woman and she found me. And I do remember that day vaguely. It was a cold winter day in December. And we were checking pipes on the street where she did reside on Worcester Street in Soho and are both good portion that we were lucky we were there. We were just literally down the block and a gentleman came running down and he said we got a fire up the street and I happened to be the show for the truck. So I went just with my helmet and an axe and a radio and took the elevator up and got into the loft. I took her mom out and then I got lucky. I went in and crawled into rooms and golf and flames and fire and I found Deirdre. I'll just reiterate, I was lucky. I was in the right place at the right time. And I did get awarded a medal from the Fire Department in 85. It's called the Walter Scott Medal. And the Fire Department only gives out approximately 45 to 50 medals a year for different acts of valor. Jean, were you almost in a little bit of disbelief or did you know exactly who it was right away when when somebody called you said the story and said you are such a big part of my life. I did get a heads up the captain of the firehouse. Captain Sarah, he called me and said that you gave me the number of Deirdre and so I did get a heads up. And I have thought about it over the years too. And we connected very well with both former military, I was in the Marines, and Deirdre was a chopper pilot. And then we spoke at length and we've both found out we were Yankee fans, diehard Yankee fans. And it just, it just, we clicked and now I have someone else in my family, I think. It's a nice story, I think. Any plans after the pandemic is over for you guys to maybe meet, have a cup of coffee, have dinner. Go ahead, Deirdre. I think the plan is to try and catch a Yankees game. That would be great and we'd be happy to help you out with that. Deirdre, we'll start with you. What made you such a big Yankee fan? You know, I think being born in New York and raised in Connecticut. You know, that's just, if you grow up in Connecticut south of the Hartford line, you're a Yankees fan, you know, above Hartford and you tend to root for that other Boston team that I won't mention. Yeah, I grew up going to the old Yankee stadium with friends in college and I have continued to just love the game. I make it a point to bring my kids up to the stadium at least once a year to catch a game or all, or all big fans. My kids were, you know, Aaron judges Jersey proudly. And Jane, I see you're representing as well. When did you fall in love with baseball and the Yankees? My dad, my dad was a college umpire and he would take us to the Double Heavies at the stadium with sandwiches and the funnies and would sit through two games. And this is a little side story. My father was at the Lou Gehrig game in like the 30s, I guess. He sat in the Gehrig box because he was handed the tickets by Mrs. Gehrig. And for the second game of the Lou Gehrig, the famous Lou Gehrig speech, my dad was actually at that game. And my father and my brothers and my sister and my wife and my grandsons were all die-hard Yankee fans. Now, Deirdre, I know you're extremely busy helping fight coronavirus. What's been the most difficult part about it during this time and going into work every day knowing that there's this big thing that's going on? Um, I think the hardest part for me was leaving my family. I've got an eight and a 10 year old who I left behind for eight weeks. I miss their birthdays. I miss Mother's Day and Easter. So, you know, that was hard, but I do feel like we made a big difference. I showed up in New York as a travel nurse and really at the height of the pandemic in New York City at the time that I showed up, the ER was completely overrun. But I know that, you know, we made a difference in the lives of the COVID patients that we took care of, but we also really helped just alleviate some of the burden that the New York staff nurses had been carrying for about a month before we got there. Thank you so much for being one of our healthcare heroes. And Jean, thank you for all your time in the New York Fire Department. We appreciate you as well. Thank you so much.