Forgotten first responders

"There have been more suicides," says John Feal, at the close of a short ceremony in front of the 9/11 first responders monument in Nesconset, a small hamlet on Long Island, a good hour's drive from Manhattan.

"If you're not in a good way, then talk to me," says the founder of the Fealgood Foundation, which according to Feal has raised over $2.5 million (1.9 million euros) to help support the 9/11 first responders who continue to suffer. In attendance today are more than 200 former FDNY firefighters and NYPD officers, who spent the days and weeks after the Twin Towers imploded searching through the rubble for survivors.

Little help for the helpers

Many of the people who came to this ceremony on the 13th anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks are seriously ill. They are suffering from 9/11 related illnesses, which - according to the Victim Compensation Fund initiated in 2011 - include a number of cancers, chronic lung disease and severe mental disorders.

These people feel that their government has mistreated them, because - to this day - they have to fight for money to cover their medical bills. One of them is Michael McPhillips, harbor captain of the biggest New York ferry fleet, which brought close to 300,000 people across the Hudson River to safety 13 years ago.

"I haven't been able to work since 2004. I have a terminal liver condition," says McPhillips, who says his disease causes permanent pain. Like many of the first responders, he spent weeks - sometimes up to 18 hours a day - breathing in the toxic vapors that ascended from the smoldering rubble.

"We knew what we were doing when we went in there. Almost everybody knew it, even though we were told that the air was clean."

Moral duty?

There is little awareness that people are still dying from the attacks, says John Feal, himself a first responder. "We have now lost over 1,500 people due to 9/11. Another 3,000 have been diagnosed with cancer. Our representatives have the moral duty to take proper care of these people!"

The John-Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, named in honor of an NYPD officer who died of lung failure, provides financial assistance for medical treatment and support. The law is set to expire in 2016, and the people who have gathered here today - in addition to many others - want to extend the law for another 25 years.

New York local politician John M. Kennedy Jr. supports those demands. "Of course I'd go along to Washington to fight for an extension. Putting a time limit on this law is absolutely unacceptable given the horrible suffering."

"The people who qualify for the state benefits receive all-encompassing treatment," said Dr. Michael Crane, who directs the World Trade Center Health Program at Mount Sinai Medical Center. Just under 70,000 people have sought medical treatment since the law was passed. "We've treated recovery workers, firefighters, people who were at Ground Zero, and inhabitants from the surrounding area," Crane told DW.

Crane said that there will most likely be more patients to come: "It is estimated that some 90,000 people were affected. That means at least 22,000 people haven't sought treatment yet," the physician said, imploring those entitled to treatment to seek it out. "This could prevent the development of cancer."

In the coming weeks, Crane said the 9/11 clinics would be unveiling a new program to help identify those in acute danger. "We are trying to be proactive."

Michael McPhillips is looking for more than just medical coverage. "As a first responder, I feel dishonored," he told DW at the entrance to the recently opened 9/11 Museum in New York. "The monument for the first responders should be right here. Because we are still dying like flies."