(CNN) -- A worn metal bracelet inscribed with the name of a fallen 9/11 firefighter washed up 10 days ago on the shores of New York's Robert Moses State Park. As the surf rolled away from her feet, Marlene Quinn picked it up. For Quinn, it was more than a serendipitous find. She was walking on the beach, she says, "praying for peace and comfort" months after the sudden death of her 62-year-old brother, Michael O'Neill, a volunteer firefighter and captain on Long Island. The fallen firefighter remembered on the weathered bracelet also was named Michael. "Michael J. Otten," the inscription read. "F.D.N.Y. LADDER 35 9/11/01."
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Bracelet honoring fallen 9/11 firefighter is found 10 years after it was lost
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It was found by Marlene Quinn, who was mourning the death her brother, a volunteer firefighter
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She returned it to Marion Otten, whose husband perished in the Twin Towers collapse
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Otten: "Things happen for a reason. I see it as a sign"
"We have a connection, I feel," said @placeholder, who will visit her late husband's firehouse on the 9/11 anniversary Thursday.