Washington (CNN) -- For years, Denise Scott and her three daughters thought they had certainty about their loved one's death on September 11, 2001.
They believed Randy Scott -- Denise's husband and father to Jessica, Rebecca and Alexandra -- died instantly when the second hijacked plane, United Airlines Flight 175, hit the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
Randy Scott worked for Euro Brokers Inc., on the 84th floor; very close to the plane's point of impact. The family took some comfort believing Randy might not have suffered.
But a handwritten note with just five words and two numbers on it has changed everything for the Scott family.
The "Tribute in Light" marks where the World Trade Center buildings stood to commemorate the 11th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks on Tuesday, September 11. The 2001 attacks resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 people after hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
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The note reads, "84th floor ... West Office ...12 people trapped."
The note was written by Randy Scott.
"We all just wrote the same ending," Denise Scott told CNN Connecticut affiliate WTIC-TV, "and it wasn't correct."
The note reveals that Randy Scott was not only alive after impact, but actively trying to get help.
He somehow sent the note out an opening in the South Tower and down to the street below.
Randy Scott's best friend, Steve Ernst, believes he knows what happened.
"He actually literally broke a window, probably with a desk," Ernst told CNN. "That's how they found that it was his note; his bloody thumb print was on the corner of the letter."
According to Ernst, and accounts the family gave to WTIC and the Stamford, Connecticut, Advocate newspaper, the note was recovered on the street almost immediately.
Then, according to those accounts, it was handed to a guard at the nearby Federal Reserve Bank. The South Tower collapsed shortly after that.
The Federal Reserve kept the note safely stored for years, then turned it over to the National September 11th Memorial & Museum, according to those accounts. The museum worked with the New York Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to process the note.
It was that smudge of blood on the note -- Randy Scott's blood -- which enabled the medical examiner to use DNA technology to trace the note.
By the time the note had gone through all those processes, a decade had passed.
In August 2011, the medical examiner's office called Denise Scott, said it had something written, and asked her to identify it.
She brought Ernst with her. "When we saw the letter, you can't mistake his handwriting", Ernst told CNN. "So we knew right away that ... he went down fighting as hard as he could."
"It was hard to hold back your tears," said Ernst, who like the Scott family lives in Stamford. "It's another part of him that just comes back."
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Ernst and Denise Scott decided it was best not to tell Denise's daughters right away.
"I think we both realized that it's a really tough awakening, to realize that your father didn't die instantly, and might have really suffered, or might have had a harder time than we thought", Ernst said.
Only "fragments" of Randy Scott's body were recovered, according to Ernst.
Denise Scott waited until earlier this year, when the youngest daughter, Alexandra, was out of college, to talk about the note.
"My youngest, when I told them about the note, said 'Oh, Daddy must have been so scared," Denise Scott said. "And I said 'No, your father was hopeful."
Ernst said he believes the physical characteristics of the writing tells Randy Scott's story in those final moments.
"He wasn't trembling. He wasn't nervous. It just looked like, 'This is what I gotta do. I gotta get some help to these 12 people.'"
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U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, left, and President Barack Obama stand during a memorial service at the Pentagon in Washington. Obama attended the memorial service, near where American Airlines flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon, to honor the victims of the September 11 attacks.
A flag is held over the reflection pool during remembrance ceremonies on Tuesday.
The firefighters of New York City's Engine 33-Ladder 9 observe a moment of silence on Tuesday. The company lost 10 firefighters in the 9/11 attacks.
Khudeza Begum etches the name of her slain nephew from the memorial of the 9/11 attacks.
A woman cries as she stands over the reflecting pool at the World Trade Center site on Tuesday.
Jillian Suarez, left, consoles Eloy Suarez during observances of the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on Tuesday.
A woman cries during the rememberance ceremonies at the World Trade Center site in New York on Tuesday.
Fire fighters pay their respects at the 9/11 Memorial during ceremonies on Tuesday.
U.S. military platoons operating out of Lindsey-Forward Operating Base in Afghanistan stand in formation Tuesday during a brief ceremony.
Scott Willens, who joined the U.S. Army three days after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, pauses at the South Pool of the 9/11 Memorial on Tuesday.
People pause near the World Trade Center site on Tuesday during a memorial to the victims.
New Yorkers pause near the World Trade Center site on Tuesday.
An honor guard carries an American flag Tuesday near the South Pool of the 9/11 Memorial.
David Peters displays his jacket depicting the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center site.
President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama observe a moment of silence with White House staff on Monday.
A New York City police officer salutes a flag hanging from One World Trade on Monday.
A flag sits in a name on the 9/11 Memorial on Monday.
New York City's "Tribute In Light," a memorial to the victims of the 9/11 attacks, shines from One World Trade into the sky over Manhattan on Monday, September 10, as they are tested for ceremonies marking the 11th anniversary.
Pictures of loved ones killed in the attacks are displayed at a preview of the National September 11 Memorial Museum's memorial exhibition on Monday in New York.
Soldiers with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force pray during a memorial ceremony in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Tuesday, September 11.
Flowers are left Monday at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, prior to ceremonies commemorating the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, right, participates in a wreath-laying ceremony in Shanksville.
Family members left messages to loved ones killed in attacks.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta speaks during the wreath-laying ceremonies in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Germano Riviera carries the Flag of Honor, which displays the names of the victims of the September 11 attacks, across ground zero on Monday.
A flag sits in a name on the 9/11 Memorial on Tuesday, September 11 before ceremonies marking the eleventh anniversary of the terrorist attacks begin.
The skyline of Lower Manhattan now contains One World Trade Center, which is scheduled to be completed in 2013.
New York's "Tribute in Light" for the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks shines into the sky over Manhattan on Monday, September 10.
One World Trade Center is viewed from the 72nd floor of Four World Trade Center on Friday, September 7.
A view of One World Trade Center from the 72nd floor of Four World Trade Center on Friday.
Construction workers continue to work on one of the four office towers being built on the site on Friday.
The progress of the construction on One World Trade Center can be seen in this photo, as well as one of the pools of the memorial site below.
Construction workers work on the 72nd floor at Four World Trade Center on Friday.
Visitors view the National September 11 Memorial & Museum on Friday. The memorial was completed in time for the 10th anniversary last year.
Only two of the four planned office towers for the site have had finishing beams placed on their top floors.
New York City is seen through a window of Four World Trade Center on Friday.
The reflecting pool at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum is viewed on Friday.
Visitors walk through the grounds of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum on Friday.
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