Additional victims are coming forward who say they have gotten a diagnosis of cancer related to their time working or living near Ground Zero, but the fund established to help them has had to cut how much each person receives due to depleted funds.

According to NBC News, the 9/11 Victims’ Compensation Fund is being hit so hard that, unless an approval for more money comes through, the entire fund is at risk of being emptied. This is happening at the same time that more are filing claims for 9/11 cancer compensation.

The fund could soon be running out of money, according to recent reports.

Victims turning to the 9/11 Cancer Compensation Fund are doing so after being diagnosed with cancer due to their exposure to the toxic air in and around ground zero.

Representatives of the 9/11 Victims’ Compensation Fund recently stated that they had insufficient funds to continue paying their projected and current claims. The 9/11 cancer compensation fund said that nearly 40,000 individuals have applied to the federal fund because of illnesses potentially linked to being near the Pentagon, the Shanksville, Penn. site or the World Trade Center after the terrorist attacks occurred.

According to a spokesperson for the fund, approximately 19,000 of those claims are still pending. So far, the $7.3 billion fund has awarded nearly $5 billion in benefits. Fund officials, however, estimate that it would take an additional $5 billion to pay the claims that officials still anticipate being filed before the December 2020 deadline and the pending claims.

Without appropriate funding, officials say that claims submitted by Feb. 1 would be paid at a rate of 50 percent of their previous value and any claims submitted to the fund after that date would be paid at only 30 percent.

Thousands of sick survivors and injured 9/11 responders have been turning to the fund as a primary means of assisting with their medical bills and cancer diagnoses after working in or around the World Trade Center.

Other research indicates that thousands of people who worked or lived in Lower Manhattan on 9/11 were also exposed to toxic fumes from the destroyed towers. Many of them are now being diagnosed with cancer.

A cluster of men have even developed breast cancer, which is exceedingly rare. Fewer than one percent of breast cancer cases occur in males, but The Guardian reports that  a number of men who lived or worked in the World Trade Center area have been diagnosed with breast cancer.

Many of the first responders who arrived on the scene to help save lives and remove debris were exposed to toxic air and pulverized dust loaded with asbestos, cement, dioxins, glass fibers, and other chemicals.

Many of the cancers being diagnosed in these workers take years to develop and are just now being diagnosed. Those who may be subject to file a claim through the cancer compensation fund are encouraged to do so as soon as possible in the event that the fund does not receive additional financial support.