A Survivor's Story
NEW YORK CITY
Cynthia Hill prides herself on being a strong person. "I bounce back from things," she says. But the events of last Aug. 11 have left her wondering whether she will ever again feel confident and in control of her life. Those events have also led her to value her union and her friends more than ever.
For the past 18 years, Hill has held a variety of positions in the city's emergency response system. She is chapter chair of Local 1549's (DC 37) 911 unit — where she regularly helps more than 1,000 members handle problems in and outside the workplace. At home, she cares for her sister, Mary Ann Lewis, who has multiple sclerosis.
JUST JEALOUSY. About 12 years ago, Hill began dating Ancel. His jealous outbursts worried her and made her scale back the relationship, from intimacy to friendship. He was a good friend, especially kind and devoted to her sister.
On Aug. 10, Hill's flight home from a conference was delayed. Ancel stayed with Lewis until Hill arrived around midnight. "He helped me bring my bags upstairs and had fixed dinner for me," she says.
It was late, so she let him spend the night at her apartment. "He asked for sex, and I said, 'No.' I lay down and fell asleep.
"I woke up with the feeling of pressure on my face. He was on top of me. I was being stabbed." Hill pushed Ancel away and ran for the door, but he grabbed her hair, wrapping it around his hand so she couldn't escape. He stabbed her repeatedly.
"I kept screaming at him to stop. Finally I screamed, 'You can't kill me because I have to take care of my sister.'" Ancel immediately turned the knife on himself, stabbing himself more than 30 times. "He went limp and let go of my hair," says Hill, who ran for help, "slipping and sliding in the blood all over the bedroom floor."
A co-worker who immediately recognized her answered Hill's call to 911. Hill requested help for Ancel who lay dying in her room. "As I reflect back on it, I never once said, 'I've been stabbed.'" When help arrived and she was whisked away to the hospital, Hill needed 10 stitches on her face, stitches behind her right ear and treatment for a laceration to her left ear.
"I'm alive to tell the story," she says. Her attacker is also alive — and in jail.
As horrible as the assault was, Hill will never forget the tremendous outpouring of support and friendship she received.
NEVER ALONE. Almost immediately, Hill's co-workers spread the word that she needed help. Friends went to her home to stay with Lewis. Intrepid souls had cleaned up all the blood by the time Hill returned home.
The police chief who visited her in the hospital made sure the best doctor was assigned to stitch her face. The chief — a woman — confessed that she had also been abused.
Hill is recovering physically, but remains emotionally scarred. "I can't sleep. When I lie down to sleep, I live through it again." So, after all the times she has asked the union to help others, she went to get it for herself — a recommendation for a therapist.
For many years, staff at DC 37's Municipal Employees Legal Services program have helped members deal with domestic violence. Its director has been in contact with Hill to offer support and assistance.
'WHY?' Hill is willing to share her story because she knows that many other women are dealing with abuse. It can happen anywhere.
"If you had talked to anyone at work, they would have said, 'Not Cynthia,'" she says. "You don't know it's domestic violence until it slaps you in the face. When the guy's jealous, you think it's because he loves you. You make excuses because you're in love.
Hill can't help wondering "why he did it." Through all the pain and misery, that's probably a question everyone who has ever suffered domestic abuse would like to ask. — S.E.H.
