If  you were near Ground Zero and have been diagnosed with any of a variety of 9/11 cancer types, you could be eligible for Victims Compensation Fund payouts.

The Victims Compensation Fund is available to persons exposed to environmental hazards near Ground Zero, including firefighters and volunteers who helped in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attack.

Newly released research indicates that first responding firefighters who worked at the World Trade Center site in New York have an increased risk of multiple myeloma and other 9/11 cancer types.

The study of 9/11 cancer types was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association’s JAMA Oncology.

“Our study shows that World Trade Center exposure may be a risk factor for the development of multiple myeloma and its precursor disease,” says the report.

Multiple myeloma is a cancer of the plasma cells that are found in our bone marrow. Plasma cells make antibodies that help our systems attack and kill germs. Plasma cells affected by multiple myeloma form an abnormal protein.

The study looked at white men who were firefighters that worked at the World Trade Center site and diagnosed with multiple myeloma. Their median age of diagnosis was 57 years old, which is approximately 12 years younger than the national average, said the researchers.

In addition, the study determined that a higher number of the firefighters tested positive for a pre-cancerous ailment known as monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS). This condition indicates the plasma is producing an abnormal protein, and MGUS can later develop into multiple myeloma.

Researchers indicated the test for MGUS allows doctors to determine who is at risk for multiple myeloma.

The firefighters in the study were determined to be 1.8 times more likely to have multiple myeloma than a comparable population of white men from Rochester, Minn.  A total of 16 firefighters from the World Trade Center site were diagnosed with multiple myeloma.

More Than Seventy 9/11 Cancer Types

Multiple myeloma is just one of the 9/11 cancer types seen in first responders, city workers, residents and students who lived and worked near Ground Zero. Other 9/11 cancer types that are eligible for coverage through the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund include:

• Lung cancer
• Prostate cancer
• Breast cancer
• Ovarian cancer
• Bladder cancer
• Non-melanoma Skin Cancer
• Melanoma
• Thyroid Cancer
• Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
• Multiple Myeloma
• Leukemia
• Mesothelioma
• Head, Neck, Nasal, Mouth Cancer
• Colon Cancer
• Kidney Cancer
• Stomach Cancer
• Esophagus Cancer
• Bone Cancer
• Liver Cancer
• Brain Cancer
• Sarcoma
• Neuropathy Related to Cancer Treatment
• Others

A variety of toxic fumes and dust were released that day, but much of it hung on the air for weeks and months afterwards. Tiny particles of cement, glass, asbestos, lead, plastics and other compounds filled the lungs of workers and residents. Burning jet fuel released more toxins, and some small, underground fires burned until the end of December of that year.

For months, the cleanup continued to send more dust and particles into the air. Diesel-powered heavy equipment added to the toxic clouds that people who were near Ground Zero had to breathe.

If you were near Lower Manhattan below Canal Street and have been diagnosed with 9/11 cancer types four or more years after exposure (or one year or more for blood or bone cancers), you could qualify for a portion of the $7.3 billion Victims Compensation Fund.