Tale Of The 'Walking Dead'

A N.Y. Cop's Life Turns To Tragedy After Heroic 9/11 Work

(CBS)  Palladino says he is not surprised by Zadroga's ordeal with the city. He says the police department's health services division tends to be insensitive to many officers' conditions, regardless of whether it's a gun shot wound or a respiratory problem. The aftermath of 9/11, he says, did little to change that institutional disregard.

"I think, at the time, the city of New York was in a state of denial," Palladino said.

The NYPD would not comment on the Zadrogas' claims that their son was pressured to report for work despite his failing health. They said the department has an unlimited sick policy and that ailing emergency responders who worked more than 40 hours at Ground Zero now qualify for disability pension under a law that was not on the books when Zadroga fell ill.

The department did confirm that Zadroga, who worked more than 450 hours at the disaster site, was the first police officer to die after reporting Ground Zero-related health problems.

Just months after 9/11, Zadroga was bed-ridden and tethered to an oxygen tank. He moved to Florida, where his wife, Ronda, fell ill with a heart ailment. She died in October 2004 at the age of 29.

Linda Zadroga says it was difficult for Tylerann, who was not even 2 years old at the time, to express her feelings but her anguish still surfaces.

"She does get frustrated," she said. "She cries and wants her mommy."

After his wife's death, James Zadroga, emotionally and physically diminished, took Tylerann back to New Jersey and moved in with his parents.

Now receiving a disability pension, he was shuttled between home and hospital. He underwent cat scans, X-rays and MRIs. Nothing conclusive showed, his parents say, so doctors would simply diagnose asthma, give him steroids and a nebulizer, and let him go.

At home, it was little Tylerann who became her father’s caretaker. She helped him with his oxygen and announced when he felt feverish.

"I told him to lie on the couch," Tylerann said. "I gave my daddy his medicine."

While Tylerann was helping, politicians were not. Linda Zadroga, despondent over her son’s deteriorating health, repeatedly contacted local and state officials, appealing for them to help what she calls the "walking dead" — the ranks of 9/11 rescue workers coping with respiratory problems.

She finally received a letter from New York Gov. George Pataki. Through his director of scheduling, the governor declined to discuss the matter, citing "time restrictions."

"They didn't help my son," said Linda, who added that only after James died did a handful of officials come forward. "I don't need their politicking."

Despair turned to bitterness. Over the holidays, Linda sent a Christmas card to every public official she had contacted. Underneath a black-clad Santa, she wrote a caustic thank-you for all the help they gave her son. The final sign-off: "Oh, I forgot, you didn’t help him."

Zadroga himself grew disillusioned with the force he once proudly served. "I can’t pay my bills and work doesn’t want to acknowledge that I’m sick, depressed and disgusted … They remember the dead but don’t want to acknowledge the sick who are living," he wrote.