Nearly 17 years after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center (WTC), the Pentagon, and the airplane over Pennsylvania, WTC cancer cases continue to be diagnosed.

First responders and those who worked and volunteered at the sites for days afterward were exposed to many hazardous toxins. The air contained a dangerous mix of aluminum, asbestos, glass, burned jet fuel and other carcinogens.

Those exposed have developed lung diseases such as asthma, lung cancer, and mesothelioma, a WTC cancer that is most often caused by asbestos exposure that can take 20 to 50 years to appear.

Anyone who was near the World Trade Center area between Sept. 11, 2001 and May 31, 2002 could be eligible for a portion of the $7.3 billion Victims Compensation Fund. Many who qualify also are eligible for free health care for life.

WTC Cancer Patients Can Receive Help

Two federally funded government programs are available to assist September 11 victims and their families. The World Trade Center Health Program covers medical treatment, and the Victim Compensation Fund gives financial assistance to victims’ families, affected responders and those who experienced and survived the attacks.

The latter fund originally closed in 2004, but upon learning so many new WTC cancer diagnoses and other WTC-related diseases were continuing to be newly diagnosed, President Obama reactivated the fund, which will now continue to operate through 2020.

More than 17,000 claims have been fulfilled through the Fund, and more than $3 billion has gone to victims and their families.

Still, many WTC cancer victims from all three attack sites remain eligible but have not applied for assistance through the Victim Compensation Fund. Advocates fear too many affected people are unaware of the Fund, which could help those who are ill and dying to receive aid. As many as 30,000 responders who traveled to the attack sites from nearly every state in the nation could be eligible for help through the Victim Compensation Fund.

Officials know up to 70,000 police officers, firefighters, volunteers, construction workers and others spent weeks in the toxic air in New York. Several thousand people who lived and worked in lower Manhattan were exposed as well as they returned to their homes and commuted to work in the days following the horror. In fact, nearly 400,000 people were potentially exposed to carcinogens that could develop into WTC cancer.

The number of people who responded to the Pentagon and to the Flight 93 crash site are not as well pinned down, but officials know hundreds of first responders were on those scenes within minutes, placing their lives at risk to save others.

Some of the victims, especially those not diagnosed with WTC cancer until years later, might not realize their cancer diagnosis is related to their exposure to toxins on 9/11 and the days and months after.

More than 70 different types of WTC cancer have been associated with the carcinogens released into the air that fateful day. If you or a loved one has developed WTC cancer, you should see if you are eligible for a portion of the Victims Compensation Fund.