The September 11th Victim Compensation Fund was temporarily closed three years after the terrorist act on that date in 2001. The event that day claimed the lives of 2,753 people working or doing business in or around the twin towers of New York’s World Trade Center and aboard the two planes whose impact resulted in their collapse.

This number reflects the loss of life from first responders, firefighters and emergency personnel as well.

The original September 11th Victim Compensation Fund was meant to provide death benefits including funeral expenses and survival monies to spouses and children of those lost as well as health care to the injured.

When the original September 11th Victim Compensation Fund closed in 2004, fund administrators may not have realized the overall health impact this terrorist attack would have in the long-run.

The list of health victims of this terrorist attack nearly 17 years ago continues to grow today, with new cancers being diagnosed as a direct consequence of the massive amounts of dangerous substances spewed into the air when the towers were hit and came down. Among these substances were jet fuel, heavy metals, PCBs, glass, and cement.

A New September 11th Victim Compensation Fund

During the Obama Administration, a second September 11th Victim Compensation Fund was activated as a necessary response to a large number of cancers being diagnosed in people that lived or worked in the vicinity of the twin towers during the terrorist attack and its eight-month cleanup campaign.

This fund has $7.3 billion dollars available for these newer victims whose long-term health and potential length of life have been severely compromised by the diagnosis of cancer.

These cancer patients may not connect this horrific event with their diagnosis. They also may be hesitant to come forward and claim monies. According to an article in the New York Daily News from last fall, a fund special master admits that she hears a lot of people express survival guilt when it is suggested they apply for benefits.

A good percentage of sickened people feel that the money should strictly be reserved for first responders and firefighters.

In reality, the management of the new September 11th Victim Compensation Fund encourages sick people that were around that area during this time to come forward. They could have been students going to school below Canal Street, residents or employees of businesses below Canal Street, or city, utility, construction, and sanitation workers in the area.

Others in danger of 9/11-related cancers were out-of-town volunteers that came to help with cleanup, police officers, and emergency medical technicians.

As of last September, the new September 11^th Victim Compensation Fund had only distributed $3 billion of the nearly $8 billion fund. Up to 70 different kinds of cancer diagnoses have been identified as qualifying patients for terrorist attack-related benefits if they were in the region during or after the event.

Blood and bone cancers need to have been diagnosed at least one year after exposure. Other cancers need to have been diagnosed at least four years after exposure.

The list of cancers includes but is not limited to breast cancer, ovarian cancer, bladder cancer, prostate cancer, stomach cancer, lung cancer, esophageal cancer, mesothelioma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and brain cancer.