For the people who lost loved ones in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, life has never been the same. Jill Suarez is one such person, as she celebrated her ninth birthday just two days before the attacks took place. Sadly, her police officer father Ramon Suarez lost his life in the attacks while trying to save others.

After assisting another officer get a woman who was unable to walk to safety, Ramon was last seen running back into the North Tower of the World Trade Center to see who else he could save. Nearly twenty years later, Jill decided that the best way she could honor his legacy was to follow in his footsteps.

“It didn’t really hit me that he was gone until 3 months later,” Jill said of her father’s death. “I think I handled it okay, but as I get older it gets harder because I understand the true meaning of it.”

When Jill entered the police academy years after Ramon’s death, she opened up again about how his death impacted her.

“For 10 years, I said that he died from a heart attack,” she remembered. “It’s not easy to constantly go through the memorials and know and hear your father’s name on that list of all those who passed away.”

A graduate of St. John’s University, Jill worked in the NYPD Forensics Lab before she entered the police academy, which she graduated from last year. Now, she is a police officer just like her dad, who would be so proud of her.

Find out more in the video below.