More than 5,400 individuals including first responders along with residents or employees who worked in the vicinity of the World Trade Center (WTC), have been diagnosed with 9/11-linked cancers. The medical director, Dr. Michael Crane, of the WTC Health Program at Mount Sinai Hospital, remarked of the alarming increase in numbers that have tripled in the past 2½ years.
Dr. Crane stated that new patients are being identified for the last year and a half with cancer, 10 to 15 times a week, every week. As of June 30, 2016, 5,441 patients have enrolled in the program with 6,378 separate cancers, an increase of 1,822 victims from January 2014.
At the present time, the program monitors over 48,000 police officers, and other who served at Ground Zero. The New York City Fire Department has its own 9/11 health program with 16,000 members. Officials report that at least 1,140 have died.
Over 50 types of cancer are believed to be related to the toxic smoke and dust from proximity to the cite of the World Trade Center. Victims can turn to the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund who may seek compensation, according to the New York Post.
An 18-year-old girl who had just moved into the Pace University dormitory on Sept. 11, heard the explosion, felt the building rattle and saw flying glass shards from the World Trade Center. She then moved home to Long Island, but resumed classes at Pace one week later, with the assurance that “it was safe.”
At age 31, the young woman, now married, gave birth by C-section, when she was diagnosed with a rare appendix cancer. She underwent a hysterectomy, removal of other organs and a chemo bath in her abdominal cavity. Before the surgery, she and her husband had four embryos frozen and they are now seeking a surrogate gestational mother. The cancer did not kill her, but it did rob her of the ability to give birth to any more children.
The NY Health Department plans to publish a new report in September on 9/11 and the link to cancer. Scientists have found five cancers significantly more prevalent than expected in the normal population including prostate, thyroid, leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma.
