How 9/11 sparked addiction battle for Adelaide victim’s twin

The media comes knocking around important anniversaries: at five years, 10 years, 15 years and now at 20.

“For us, it doesn’t matter so much whether it’s the 20th year, because we’re still dealing with the atrocities of that day,” Adelaide man Stuart Knox said.

Stuart’s twin brother, Andrew Knox, died in the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001.

He had been working on the North Tower’s 103rd floor as an environmental architect when American Airlines Flight 11 struck.

“Quite quickly we realised that [Andrew] had been in the tower when it was hit and that he had died,” Stuart said.

“The world changed that day. We were dealing with our own loss, our personal loss, but then we were also really adapting to a changing world and where we sat in that world.”

Stuart said that additional media attention around anniversaries tended to make an already painful time even more difficult.

Research shows that repeated images of planes, smoke, rubble and panicked witnesses trigger complex reactions associated with post-traumatic stress.

For Stuart, Andrew’s death was not simply an unimaginable personal tragedy.

It marked the beginning of years of alcohol dependence, drug abuse and mental illness.

Triggered at 15th anniversary

Stuart visited New York City in 2016, to mark the 15th anniversary of his twin’s death.

He said that trip resulted in an even more devastating mental health crisis, and his reliance on alcohol and other substances spiralled.

Around the same time, Stuart was suspended from his position as a school principal by the Department for Education, and his mother died.

“Alcohol was something that I used to numb the pain and, many years down the track, it was anything to get me out of myself,” he said.

“There was shopping, gambling and alcohol — and then drugs.

“It was always around this time of year that I would reach for something to fill the hole inside.

“While the world saw me keeping it all together, and being a really strong advocate for Muslim people, I was struggling inside.

“I’ve struggled with that for 20 years.”

Passionate son, brother, friend

Stuart is proud of the man his twin brother was, saying they had been “different people” but shared important qualities, such as a genuine love and consideration for others.

“He was someone who was passionate about so many causes.

“He was somebody who loved his friends, who loved his family, who loved to travel.”

Andrew had been heavily involved in the union movement and had worked as an industrial officer for the Australian Workers’ Union (AWU) before moving to the United States.

A memorial plaque outside the AWU’s Mawson Lakes office commemorates a “mate” taken by terrorism.

“There are lots of things that I look back on that I still really admire about who he was,” Stuart said.

“Once he got involved in something, he would see it through until the very end.”

It is an approach Stuart is trying to take now in his own life.

New anniversary

Today marks seven months of sobriety for Stuart.

It is a remarkable anniversary after so many years of raw pain and substance abuse, and something he knows he has to work at every day.

“I’m an alcoholic and an addict, and it was triggered by a traumatic event,” he said.

“It’s my story and this is about my healing. When you bring light to darkness, the darkness doesn’t exist anymore.

“I can’t fear the judgement. I can’t sit being ashamed of my journey.”

Stuart said he had started a new journey, one that focused on helping others experiencing addiction.

“I want Andrew to be looking down and saying, ‘Good on you, bro, you’ve actually done something about this’,” he said.