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    Paramedic's ultimate sacrifice inspires father to a greater cause

    Paramedic's ultimate sacrifice inspires father to a greater cause

    Photo By Cpl. Justin Rodriguez | Keith G. Fairben, a native of Floral Park, New York, was a New York-Presbyterian...... read more read more

    JACKSONVILLE, NC, UNITED STATES

    09.09.2014

    Story by Cpl. Mary Carmona 

    Marine Corps Installations East       

    JACKSONVILLE, N.C. - He was just your typical teenage guy - the perfect kid one day and a mess the next.

    His room resembled his behavior, with piles of clean laundry on one side and dirty clothes congregating on the other.

    His grades weren’t the highest either. In fact, Keith Fairben nearly failed his science class when his teacher called his father, Kenneth, to the school and told him Keith was missing five science projects.
    Fairben chuckled as he recounted his son furiously digging through his school locker, a hideous jumble of homework inside, trying to find just one of the projects.

    “Sure enough, they weren’t in there,” Fairben said.

    Luckily, Keith was able to get an extension and still pass the class, Fairben said.

    But the six-foot three-inch Floral Park, New York, native found his passion when he began working with the emergency medical technicians through his father’s fire department.

    “He was just the normal kid, but he found his niche, his love, his passion,” Fairben said.

    Keith became serious about his career as a paramedic and completed his EMT training. Afterward, he was hired by and completed two years of work with TransCare Ambulance Service in New York.

    Finally, Keith secured the job he really wanted – working as a paramedic for New York-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City.

    “He would work in the city, and then in Floral Park, and then in some of the neighboring areas,” his father said. “He was constantly going.”

    Coworkers attested to Keith’s natural ability to perform the job.
    “Everyone said when he was on scene he had the ability to put patients at ease,” Fairben said. “It was his nature.”

    Sept. 11, 2001, Keith Fairben was part of a Cornell Presbyterian Hospital paramedic dispatch that received orders to the World Trade Center.

    His father was at work, watching the events of 9/11 on the television, and knowing that his son would somehow be involved because of his job, tried to contact him.

    He was able to reach him by phone in the morning, but Keith told him it was too chaotic and that he had to go.

    “I told him to be safe,” Fairben said. “I told him I would see him when I he got home. That was the last time I spoke to my son.”
    Keith’s body was found seven months later – holding on to the body of a woman that he was trying to save.

    “Keith was very much like a Marine,” Fairben said. “He never left anybody behind.

    Keith will never be forgotten. His memory lives on in the Floral Park Fire Department, where his gear hangs in a glass case and one of the fire engines reads “in memory of our fallen brother, Lt. Keith G. Fairben.”

    It lives in the cooler of Malibu Bay Breezes, Keith’s favorite drink, which his friends bring to the cemetery every Sept. 11 and drink around his grave with him.

    It lives with his father, Kenneth Fairben, who now travels to military hospitals to support wounded warriors injured in the fight against terrorism.

    Keith Fairben’s memory and heroic actions live in the efforts of today’s average men and women that wake up each day, put on a uniform and go to work to protect our nation.

    “I’m forever grateful to the military personnel who put themselves in harm’s way,” Fairben said. “Do not forget.”

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 09.09.2014
    Date Posted: 09.09.2014 15:45
    Story ID: 141599
    Location: JACKSONVILLE, NC, US
    Hometown: FLORAL PARK, NY, US

    Web Views: 5,215
    Downloads: 0

    PUBLIC DOMAIN