9/11-related illnesses continue to plague thousands of people 25 years later

As of late August, the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund has received 112,000 claims, awarding more than $18 billion.

Tens of thousands of people were sickened.

In Nesconset, Long Island, at the Responders Remembered Memorial, the names of those who died from 9/11 illnesses grows every year. This year, they'll add 345 more names.  

First responders' tireless advocacy

Thomas Wilson was an NYPD sergeant who worked at Ground Zero.

"We thought we were going to be rescuing people left and right. But we didn't rescue anyone. The scene was overwhelming. Devastation, the dust," he said. "A few nights, I slept at Ground Zero."

He also worked the evidence and forensic recovery operation at Fresh Kills.

Wilson says around 2003 or 2004, he started to experience respiratory and gastrointestinal issues, and in 2008, he developed a large mass in the front of his tongue. He was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer and had the front of his tongue cut out.

"The artery from my arm was grafted into my neck and that resupplies my new tongue, and then he dissected my neck again to remove 39 lymph nodes," Wilson said.

Michael O'Connell was a probationary firefighter on 9/11 who responded to the towers and worked at Ground Zero. He says in 2007, he was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called sarcoidosis.

"My body had blown up to like two times the size of what it was the night before," he said. "I was hospitalized for a while. High fevers – 103, 104 fevers, night sweats, chills. It was not stopping. The pain, I could hardly walk."

Both O'Connell and Wilson have been among those tirelessly advocating for years for the Zadroga Act, the World Trade Center Health Program and the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.

"Went down to D.C. about 60 times, at least, and walked halls of Congress advocating and fighting for 9/11 healthcare," Wilson said.

"We had every Congressional district besides one send responders in, and people are getting sick all over this country," O'Connell said.

"The government told us the air was safe to breathe"

Attorney Michael Barasch, whose office is three blocks from the World Trade Center, was diagnosed with two different cancers himself.

"I represent nearly 50,000 people in the 9/11 community. It's nonstop," he said.  

His message is for people who lived, worked, went to school and volunteered in the area.

"If they get sick, whether it's the respiratory illnesses, whether it's the 69 cancers that have now been scientifically linked, they have the right to join the World Trade Center Health Program," Barasch said, "and if they're certified with an illness, they have the right to compensation, just like the firefighters and the cops."

"The government told us the air was safe to breathe," said Peter Raho, a client of Barasch's who worked as an accountant in the area.

He was later diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

During the fight for healthcare funding, he wrote a letter to his local legislator.

"This is the one time I'm asking you for you to do something for me," he said.