Sick and dying heroes of 9/11 left in limbo
First responders slowly succumbing to illnesses
Thousands of heroic New York City police officers, firefighters and paramedics who rushed to help others after the Sept 11 terror attacks 20 years ago, are now fighting for their own lives after contracting 9/11-related cancers and COVID-19.
The first responders, who searched for survivors in the collapsed World Trade Center rubble in 2001 after terrorists flew two planes into the Twin Towers, inhaled dust, noxious gases, particulates, chemicals and fibers from the debris.
They have since been diagnosed with 70 types of cancers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, which runs the federally mandated WTC Health Program.
Ronald Richards, a New York Police Department bomb squad detective, was one of the first on the scene on 9/11. He contracted multiple myeloma — a blood cancer — and died at age 45 in 2015, leaving his wife and four daughters.
Of 15,200 firefighters, paramedics and other members of the city’s fire department who were exposed to the dust for more than 10 months, 11,300 now have a long-term illness, according to a recent report by the WTC Health Program.
John Feal, from Nesconset, New York, worked as a construction supervisor amid toxic dust at the 9/11 site, which was nicknamed the “Pile” by workers.
He developed gangrene, then sepsis, and lost a foot after a steel beam fell on it at Ground Zero five days after he arrived. He said the dust immediately made everyone around him ill.
“(At Ground Zero) we had health problems right away. Everybody was complaining about sore throats and runny eyes. We knew what we were inhaling wasn’t any good. I was only there for five-and-a-half days before I got hurt, but I had a sore throat, burning eyes and burning nose,” he said.
Feal became an activist, lobbying Congress for benefits for other survivors with comedian Jon Stewart, former host of The Daily Show.
The pair worked together to extend federally funded programs such as the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund, which is run through the Justice Department. The fund ensures survivors can claim compensation for illnesses caused by the attacks and also provides victims’ families with damages for their losses.
Feal, founder of the FealGood Foundation, was also instrumental in getting the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act passed in 2010, renewed in 2015 and extended in 2019. Named after a New York City police officer who died of respiratory disease, the act provides medical services and compensation for first responders exposed to the toxins.
However, Feal has criticized lawmakers for taking too long to pass the much-needed bills.
He said: “The 9/11 community is a shrinking number because we are dying off. We’re not going to make it to our life expectancy age of 78.6 years. The average age of a 9/11 responder was 38-and-ahalf years on 9/11. Now, on average, they are about 59 or 60. Many are sick and dying, or have died. … My heart bleeds for them.”