As the first 9/11 responder at the World Trade Center, whose left foot pierced an 8,000-pound metal beam just two decades ago, John Feal is not scary.
But as Americans mark the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Feal is now frightened by the most recent attack on our nation: COVID-19.
Feal suddenly went through the virus last March, leaving him with respiratory symptoms he had never had before, fearing for his life in a hospital emergency room.
“Normally, nothing scares me, I’m a survivor, but this virus does. I felt like I had been hit on a bus,” Feal told the Mesothelioma Center in Asbestos.com. “There are 3 or 4 days where I’m sure nothing. And the persistent effects are real. I’m not the same yet.”
As president of the FealGood Foundation, a leading first aid advocacy organization, Feal is also a classic example of how the COVID-19 pandemic is targeting this vulnerable Organization of Americans and is transforming the way the country approaches the 9/11 anniversary. Year.
The pandemic has radically replaced the global one for almost all of them in the last six months. It is especially harmful to others with weakened immune systems whose pre-existing situations, such as mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases, many of the first lifeguards and civilian survivors nearby.
“I know other people who are dying of COVID, some of whom were survivors of 9/11, some with cancers,” Feal said. “This is a scary time for many other people.”
The 9/11 terrorist attacks killed another 2,753 people at the World Trade Center in New York that day. Almost the same number has died from diseases directly similar to cleanliness and the poisonous cloud created through the collapse of the dual towers that persisted over the city for months.
More than 105,000 others have enrolled in the World Trade Center’s fitness program, which monitors and treats anyone who is in the domain after the attacks and may have been affected.
The physical fitness effects of 9/11 were collected and evaluated through the World Trade Center Health Registry program for some time after the terrorist attacks. According to the record, approximately 410,000 more people were exposed to pulverized concrete, glass, asbestos, metals, mercury, poisonous gases and a myriad of other hazardous substances.
“On September 11, it made those other people in poor health more vulnerable,” said Dr. Raja Flores, a chest surgeon and asbestos disease specialist at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. “There’s still a lot we don’t know about COVID-19, yet the healthier you’re at the beginning, the greater your chances of overcoming it. Here are other people who risked their lives to save us, and now they’re in poverty. health because of his altruism.”
Nearly 75,000 other people in the World Trade Center’s fitness program now suffer from a wide variety of life-changing diseases, many of which are chronic or gastrointestinal respiratory situations that contribute to their vulnerability to COVID-19.
More than 17,000 have reported on one type of cancer. One is mesothelioma, a rare cancer that occurs when inhaling or drinking asbestos fibers.
Those concerned about 9/11’s recovery and cleanup efforts were 5% to 30% more likely to expand one of the cancers than those who weren’t worried.
“It’s a no-brainer, but not an unusual sense, ” said Flores. “If you tell others about things you know cause cancer, they’ll expand it.”
Just as COVID-19 has replaced the American lifestyle (limited crowds, virtual events, social estrangement, disguised), the pandemic has also replaced the way the September 11 anniversary will be commemorated in 2020.
Each year, the 9/11 Memorial – Museum in New York organizes a live recitation of the names of those who died in the attacks on the Twin Towers. It’s an occasion that attracts thousands of people, but conscious adherence to coronaviruses this year has replaced the routine.
Only a pre-recorded audio recording of members of the family circle reading the call will be in the program to deter crowds from gathering.
Officials at the 9/11 Memorial Museum announced earlier this month that they will cancel their annual tribute to the light, which stands in early September to honor the survivors of 9/11.
After a heavy protest from disappointed citizens, officials two days later to level the visual lighting installation for miles.
“This year, her message of hope, power of permanence and resistance is more vital than ever,” Alice M. Greenwald, executive director of the 9/11 Memorial Museum, said in a speech on replacing plans.
The organization’s concessions to COVID-19 led the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation to plan a separate occasion, a few blocks from the Ground Zero Memorial, where a reading of the call will be held at the same time.
At 9/11 Answers Remejected Park on Long Island, the annual naming rite will be a mix of face-to-face and virtual occasions this year, a concession to the virus that will reduce the number of people.
The park wall, on which the names are written, is reserved for Paid and Volunteer Ground Zero workers who have died from a 9/11 illness.
Another 163 names will be added to the wall this year, which have died since the 18th anniversary, which will push the total beyond 1700.
Feal, who is also a board member of 9/11 Responders Rememented Wall, said COVID-19 would possibly have contributed up to 3 dozen deaths in the incoming class.
While COVID-19 wreaked havoc on stakeholders on 9/11, they were lucky that the country responded to its plight.
The World Trade Center Health Program was introduced in 2011 to monitor and care for others in the United States who live with fitness problems after September 11, adding those undergoing mesothelioma treatment.
Part of this program is early tripping onion and proactive fitness care. This can lead to serious problems, such as mesothelioma symptoms, in the early stages when they are treatable to the maximum. Your physical care covers COVID-19.
They, and their families, also gain great benefits from the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, which will provide lifelong monetary assistance to thousands of people.
In 2019, the federal law that extended the fund until 2090 was passed, a major financial commitment that ultimately charges $100 billion.
The fund covers others who have been injured as a result of terrorist attacks or as a component of rescue and recovery efforts. It also covers the families of those who have died since 2001.
Nearly 30,000 other people have approved their eligibility since the program began. Most of those affected are police officers, firefighters, lifeguards and lifeguards, as well as volunteer lifeguards.
Although face-to-face physical care has slowed through COVID-19 everywhere, this has prevented the maximum number of severely affected 9/11 survivors from receiving much-needed treatment.
Nor has it curbed legal assistance for a diagnosis of asbestos cancer potentially similar to exposure, such as malignant mesothelioma.
Lawyers effectively use teleconferences, virtual meetings, and electronic signatures for face-to-face contact.
According to the New York Times, the coronavirus pandemic has suspended initial proceedings at the upcoming war crimes court at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where five men are scheduled to make plans for the September 11 attacks in 2021.
All five face the death penalty in the long-awaited trial. The back of the pandemic is a sadness for many of the circle of relatives of the deceased.
The COVID-19 virus was a wake-up call for an organization of 9/11 survivors who are ignored and rarely studied— the youngest with the maximum number of years to lose. They were in nearby schools when the attacks occurred.
They also returned to school less than a month later, after officials falsely trusted their parents that it was to breathe infected air.
“These are difficult times for us right now,” said Lila Nordstrom, who was in her senior year of Stuyvesant High School in 2001, at the Mesothelioma Center in Asbestos.com. “Yes, there is a genuine concern. These are scary times.
Stuyvesant is just 3 blocks from where the World Trade Center was located, near the site of a debris barge, and close to where the fires were burning for another two months.
There’s danger in the air.
“None of us had to be exposed, but we were when we returned to a domain that was not yet open to the public,” Nordstrom said. “We are the ones who see a day with these cancers with long periods of latency like mesothelioma. It’s worrying.”
In recent years, many of his classmates have been diagnosed with respiratory gastrointestinal disorders, severe sinusitis and post-traumatic stress disorder.
One of those 33-year-old classmates died of a gastric less than a year ago.
Nordstrom has launched a nonprofit organization called StuyHealth, which is helping survivors navigate the World Trade Center’s fitness program and the September 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund.
Their target audience is those who returned to school in the weeks following the attack, especially the younger ones, many of whom are still in the invincibility of youth.
COVID-19 turns out to have caught the attention of these colleagues because they tell it about what they went through and fired 19 years ago.
“There has been a renewed interest in the World Trade Center’s fitness program. And that’s a smart thing to do,” Nordstrom said. “Even when they still feel this invincibility of other young people, and still feel very intelligent, they are the main threat today because of where they have been.”
The data on this is proprietary and protected. It does not update professional medical advice, diagnoses or treatments. Any unauthorized or illegal use, copying or distribution will be processed. Read our privacy policy and disclaimer to learn more about our
Asbestos.com is sponsored by law firms. This online page and its content may be ads from lawyers. The above effects do not expect a similar result. For more information, please visit our Sponsors page.