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Air Today . . . Gone Tomorrow Article
9/11 toll still grows
By Michele McPhee, Daily News, May 25, 2004
Workers Cancer is no coincidence
For Bob Shore and Victor DiPierro, the tragic story of Sept. 11, 2001, didn't end that
day.
They were among the innumerable heroes who spent weeks and months looking for remains -
only to develop life-threatening cancer.
The Daily News revealed yesterday that many cops and firefighters assigned to Ground Zero
are developing serious illnesses, including cancer.
And though no direct link between Ground Zero and cancer has yet been established, more
victims came forward yesterday to tell their stories.
DiPierro, a cop in the 46th Precinct, worked at Ground Zero all night on Sept. 11 and
every day for months afterward.
"When I saw the plane hit, I drove right to the precinct," DiPierro told The
News yesterday.
He was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in March, and underwent surgery on April 5 to have
two tumors removed.
"I don't regret it. What we did is nothing," said DiPierro, 36, a nine-year
veteran who is on sick leave while undergoing radiation treatment.
"I almost feel guilty now getting sick and saying it's because of that day. I knew
the air just wasn't right then. You could smell it, and it didn't feel right.
"But it's not a coincidence that we are all getting sick now. Young, healthy cops and
firemen all getting sick a couple years after working down there? There is no way that is
a coincidence at all."
Shore, a retired correction officer, said he worked nearly nonstop for three weeks at
Ground Zero. He has pancreatic cancer, a condition his doctor insists was either caused by
or accelerated by the "smoke and chemical gases" in the air those terrible days.
Shore, 52, said he volunteered to work in the massive recovery effort. "My wife
called me and said my sister-in-law was trapped in the building. I ran right there and
stayed for weeks. I came home every night crying from what I saw there."
His dark experiences prompted him to retire from the Correction Department eight months
after the disaster.
By September 2002, Shore became crippled with pains in his rib cage that spread to his
spine. Months later, he was told those pains were caused by terminal pancreatic cancer.
By April 2003, Shore was having surgery at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center to remove
his pancreas, gallbladder and spleen.
Two doors down was NYPD Detective Robert Williamson, 43, whose struggle with pancreatic
cancer was detailed in The News yesterday.
Williamson is one of 1,700 cops and firefighters who filed a notice of claim against the
city, saying their illnesses or injuries were related to their work after the 9/11
attacks.
Shore is not expected to survive, despite extensive chemotherapy and radiation treatments.
His doctor, Charles Hesdorffer, insists the deadly blend of noxious gases released by the
collapse of the towers either caused or accelerated his condition.
"His occupational exposure, albeit as a result of a terrible terrorist act, was the
likely cause of his unfortunate disease, which will inevitably lead to his untimely
demise," Hesdorffer, an oncologist at Columbia Presbyterian, wrote in a letter to
Shore's attorney, Michael Barasch.
Hesdorffer testified on behalf of Shore - and nearly a dozen others with grave illnesses -
at Sept. 11th Victim Compensation Fund hearings. Shore's claim is pending.
Hesdorffer examined several patients who developed cancer after working at or near Ground
Zero.
"One or more of these chemicals and these fumes may very well have been the cause of
the cancers that these patients developed," he wrote.
"In all instances, the cancers developed in young, otherwise healthy individuals with
no personal or family histories of cancer."
How cases are resolved
The recovery efforts at Ground Zero and Fresh Kills landfill resulted in 1,700 notices of
claim against the city. Of those, 1,500 led to lawsuits.
The vast majority of those plaintiffs eventually dropped their suits to pursue settlements
with the federal Sept. 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001. Under the terms of the
federal fund, anyone who accepts a settlement cannot also file suit.
How these legal claims are ultimately resolved has no bearing on a tragic fact People who
helped sift through the remains of Sept. 11, 2001, are developing serious, sometimes
fatal, illnesses.
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