INSULT TO INJURY
New Yorkers who survived 9/11 are experiencing a massive surge in aggressive brain cancers as dollars for the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund continue to dry up, leaving them wondering in their final days who will support their families once they’re gone.
“I call it cancer on steroids,” said Michael Barasch, the former personal attorney of James Zadroga, the late NYPD detective for whom the federal 9/11 Health and Compensation Act is named.
The September 11th Victim Compensation Fund — a separate benefit from the Zadroga Act — has paid out billions of dollars to tens of thousands of people, but is set to run dry in 2020, at a time when many victims need it most.
Barasch now represents at least 15,000 people suffering from 9/11related illnesses — 85 of them stricken with cases of brain cancer that are far more aggressive than average, thanks to the carcinogenic stew of ground glass, asbestos, chromium, lead and benzene drifting through the air around Ground Zero for months after the attacks.
For Barasch’s 85 brain-cancer-afflicted clients, the average time between diagnosis and death is a mere 18 months — 80 percent shorter than the average seven years those with non-9/11 related brain cancers can expect.
One of those people is Kevin Bevilacqua, a 53-year-old retired firefighter who was diagnosed with brain cancer late last year.
Like many other first responders on Sept. 11, it was Bevilacqua’s day off, but as soon as he heard five hijackers had crashed American Airlines Flight 11 into floors 93 through 99 of the World Trade Center’s North Tower, he jumped into action.
“I gotta go to work,” he told his wife as he passed her their baby son and dashed out the door.
For years, Bevilacqua has lived with sinus issues related to his search and rescue efforts at Ground Zero in the weeks following the attacks, and in the nearly two decades since, he’s watched many people like him fall.
Bevilacqua, a married father of three, never took advantage of any of the health programs offered by the Zadroga Act. But when he learned he had brain cancer, that all changed.
“That’s why I went for the victim’s compensation fund, because there’s some financial reward needed there to get my family to where they need to be,” he said.
The fund will run out by December 2020. For applicants who hadn’t received payments by Feb. 25 this year, their awards will be cut in half. Survivors who applied after that date are faced with up to a 70 percent cut in support.
Luckily, Bevilacqua applied for money before the deadline and he and his family will receive the full award. But he’s furious to know others like him won’t.
“Something like this there’s no money for? It just doesn’t make any sense,” he fumed. “We’re not going to let [government officials] make these unsavory decisions behind closed doors without answering these questions, especially for these people who didn’t ask questions and ran into a situation to help and now they don’t have support.”
Ingrid-Morales Shea tragically lost her husband, Nassau County Police Lieutenant Michael Shea, to brain cancer two years ago when he was just 53 — less than two years after he was diagnosed.
As her husband’s primary caretaker for years, she bore witness to his daily struggles as his body deteriorated from the disease. She said her late husband would be very disappointed to know families like his won’t be supported from the fund the way his wife was.
“He’s one of those individuals who feels like everyone has the right to get what they deserve . . . This shouldn’t have ever happened to anyone,” Shea said.