9-11

In 2001 Tom was renting an apartment on Liberty street in Downtown Manhattan. A loft space that he and his other architect friends converted to a nice modern apartment. The location was great with a World Trade Center subway just down the stairs. The only complaint he had was the noise of water tracks early in the morning washing the WTC plaza right under his windows.

He was not home when the towers went down, he was already in the midtown at work. But all his stuff, documents, photos, everything was in the apartment. After staying for two nights at a hotel he went downtown and asked the security personnel and rescuers if he can get to his place to assess the damage and if possible rescue at least some of his things, some important documents at least. An ID with his address was enough to get the access. He was not given any special protection equipment, noone said anything about any precautionary measures. Tom, a student at that time, went to a hardware store and bought the most expensive face mask he could afford. For several days he would be coming downtown to go to his old apartment - all windows, not glass but the entire window frames, blown in; everything covered with thick layer of dust, debris everywhere. He was not allowed to help at the main site, but he was also not offered any help - everyone was busy at the WTC.

Like most of people diagnosed with EC, we searched for an answer to the question "why me?". It just did not seem right, it was not fair that a 37 year old person obsessed with healthy lifestyle could possibly get such a diagnosis. Not Tom! he does not smoke, he eats healthy food, we bike, hike, we would have a occasional beer with friends but Tom had never had any health issues, no acid reflex, accept maybe a seasonal cold now and then.

We read that a corrosive injury to esophagus could be caused by swallowing strong alkaline acids. We read that WTC dust contained extremely high alkaline content. We read that it takes 8-10 years for cancer to develop. We read studies that a large number of people exposed to 9-11 dust have developed GERD. We also read that cancer patients are still not eligible for compensation and medical support under Zadroga 9/11 Compensation Claims Act.

http://www.zadrogaclaimsinfo.com/faqs/how-long-do-i-have-to-file-a-zadroga-911-compensation-claim/what-diseasesconditions-covered-by-wtc-victim-fund/

We don't need money - we can manage on one salary. We are also lucky to have a very good insurance through my employer. Unfortunately many people are not as lucky as we are.

Olya