r/interestingasfuck • u/Imaginary-Rope-3084 • 21h ago
Marcy Borders, the Iconic "Dust Lady" of 9/11 after escaping North Tower of the World Trade Center. She passed away from cancer at age 42.
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u/rhinocerosjockey 21h ago
I read her story. She understandably ended up with severe trauma of tall buildings and planes and turned to substance abuse to cope. Who wouldn’t.
We should absolutely remember those who perished that day, but there were many more who suffered long after that morning who’s story or name is not known.
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u/Jerk_Johnson 21h ago
Amen. Those firefighters that were there that day should be heard.
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u/rhinocerosjockey 21h ago
It’s hard to even begin to understand the bravery of people that day. Running towards the towers that morning takes courage.
There is the video of firefighters a few blocks away on the street when the North Tower was hit. You see them watch it happen and then immediately start running towards the tower.
Shit gives me goosebumps each time I come across it. Heros, all of them.
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u/BackInJax 20h ago
I was listening to a replay of all the radio traffic (NYPD & NYFD) that day from the first plane strike to well after both buildings collapsed, and everyone involved on the ground was very professional and continually trying to get to the most affected areas to help strangers and their own who were in danger. I never got to listen to all of that before today, and it just makes my admiration for all the First Responders who worked that tragedy even greater.
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u/rhinocerosjockey 20h ago
I’ve heard parts of it too, and you’re right, it’s odd how calm they are on the radio, but that just shows what professionals they were at doing what they were trained to do, save as many lives as possible. Shit makes me cry listening to it.
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u/BackInJax 20h ago
I found out in another sub this morning that the Scanner Radio app replays all of the first responder radio traffic that went on that day every September 11th starting at 8:46 A.M. It was a fitting way to remember all those who ran into the gates of hell in order to save others from it.
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u/Waggitt 20h ago
I watched a documentary about that I think. It started off as a day-in-the-life kinda thing for the firefighters, but they happened to be recording on the day... The tonal shift was horrifying. Come to think of it, pretty sure the camera man was outside when the tower collapsed...
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u/Tracyannk28 19h ago
I think that might have been the Naudet Brothers 2002 documentary. They were supposed to be filing a documentary on rookie firefighters and it took a very different turn on 9/11. Its free to watch on youtube.
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u/Alternative_Belt9560 20h ago
Cameraman was stopped by police and not allowed to be with the firefighters as they ran to the towers
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u/BadMondayThrowaway17 7h ago
In videos taken after the second tower collapse, the chirping of PASS devices is always super haunting to me. Every one of those chirps in the distance is a likely dead firefighter, and you can hear dozens of them like crickets.
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u/demon_x_slash 2h ago
I make myself listen to clips of the PASS alarms every few years to remind myself what sacrifice and service actually looks like.
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u/Waggitt 21h ago edited 20h ago
Years ago, maybe back in 2019? I decided to attend the 9/11 memorial as an outsider. During the day, it's pretty quiet, some stuff here and there, but at night?
It was loud. I remember sitting at the memorial grounds by the nearby fire station, and they were beating drums I think? But above all of that, the thing I remember the most are their cries. They wailed into the night, real hard sobs that just... You don't forget that. I'm sure everyone heard the firemen that night.
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u/Punkrockcarl72 20h ago
Im a native NYer, born and raised. I finally went to the memorial years ago and felt incredibly uneasy there. Yes, its a memorial for the innocent people who lost their lives, and in rememberence of the heroes that sacrificed theirs to save others, but its also a massive grave site. Thousands of people took their last breaths exactly where we stood as we remember them all these years later.
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u/Waggitt 20h ago
Was born and raised in NYC too. It is pretty unnerving to think about the fountains as a mass gravesite, but I figured I oughta pay my respects. I find it kinda insulting seeing tourists take selfies and such at the fountains though.
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u/Punkrockcarl72 20h ago
Thats why I went there as well. I felt it necessary as a NYer to pay my respects. I agree with you wholeheartedly, its incredibly insulting to see tourists take selfies near the memorial. Its almost like a slap in the face to those who lost their lives.
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u/TrunkWine 20h ago
I visited NYC for the first time this summer. I thought the fountains and oak trees were a lovely tribute.
I didn’t take photos at the site, but lots of people did. Some were more respectful than others, but I thought the gift shop in the museum was the most disrespectful thing of all.
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u/peony_beony 18h ago
There’s a gift shop for the memorial site?! That’s awful! Does the money made at least go to the survivors or victims’ families?
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u/KittyBungholeFire 11h ago
CNN article from 2014 about the controversy was saying that it's needed for actually helping to fund all the expenses of keeping the museum and memorial open. Museum leadership, including then-president Joe Daniels, explained that the National September 11 Memorial & Museum receives no government funding and requires revenue from tickets and retail to cover its $65 million annual operating costs.
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u/thatoneredheadgirl 19h ago
My husband and I went to the Arizona memorial in Pearl Harbor and we didn’t feel right take pictures of ourselves smiling nor pictures of us there on the boat. It just felt wrong.
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u/millahnna 11h ago
I visited that as a little kid on a field trip and found it very unnerving. I was only six but I desperately wanted off the boat.
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u/-Blade_Runner- 15h ago
Have one close friend who is 9/11 responder. Has severe trauma he still carries and having some neurological symptoms due to all of chemical exposure. Dude is amazing person. We worked in emergency department together and now our kids are best friends.
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u/Jerk_Johnson 15h ago
Tell him an internet stranger loves and respects him for his burden and said im sorry, but also thank you.
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u/Muted_Quantity5786 14h ago
And for months and months after. Digging dead bodies out of rubble is I don’t have words. So I’ll stop.
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u/dawnmountain 21h ago
I think we forget that families of victims and families of survivors are also traumatized. It's much more widespread than just the people who died, then or after.
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u/rhinocerosjockey 20h ago
Yeah, nearly 3,000 people died directly from the attacks. We don’t even know how many more than that died years after from the hazardous conditions of that day, people just like Marcy.
Which means 10,000’s or even 100,000’s of thousands of people were affected by the sudden, tragic, and horrific loss of their loved ones.
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u/NefariousnessLate375 8h ago
It's not just people at ground zero who are going to be getting sick from the air pollution either.
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u/BriefShiningMoment 21h ago
Yes I was trying to explain to my teenager today, the death toll is a sensational piece of a larger event. The biggest aspect was the chaos and fear… living in state of limbo not knowing if/when there would be more attacks. As a NYer, a lot of it was that people were missing for a long time.
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u/Hootinger 17h ago
The students of Stuyvesant High School, which was right next to where they stored the rubble, were essentially forced back to school early. NPR did a story on the huge amount of cancers of those students who are barely 40
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u/rhinocerosjockey 16h ago
Damn, yeah, you know, stories like this are out there. Sucks they basically had to breathe in fine toxic particles like asbestos, and no adults protected them from it. I wish there was a way to go back and not have this happen. Short of that, they should be compensated for not getting the life they deserved.
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u/QuarterObvious 19h ago
She later developed stomach cancer, likely from the dust exposure, and couldn’t afford even basic prescription medication.
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u/avanross 19h ago
While they spend millions on “memorial celebrations” and the land owners lobbied to receive double insurance payouts, without having to pay any to their tenants…
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u/KidGold 20h ago
I was a kid living in a rural area and even I was scared of going to places my kid brain thought could be terrorist targets.
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u/Due_Elephant_5694 21h ago
The expression on her face makes it all the more horrifying
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u/mykl5 21h ago edited 21h ago
“How tf could you take my picture right now”
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u/DanGleeballs 16h ago edited 7h ago
True.
On the other hand as a historical record, this might be important.
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u/RiverCalm6375 19h ago
I always wondered why this photo is not anywhere to be seen in the 9/11 museum - does anyone know? It’s probably one of the most famous photos of that day.
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u/Magnon 18h ago
Well they covered up the exposure to cancerous materials a ton of people got so im sure they wouldnt want a photo like this more circulated
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u/RiverCalm6375 18h ago
I’m sure I saw other photos though of the debris, I just always thought this was “the photo” that everyone would remember. Thanks though, makes sense.
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u/peakprovisions 20h ago
Once the trains out of the city started running again that afternoon, I rode an NJ Transit train out of Penn Station with a man who was covered in that yellow dust. It was covering his glasses, too, I'm not sure how he could see well enough to get around.
He had his young son with him, and found a seat for his kid while he stood in the aisle. People kept getting up and practically begging him to take their seats, but he just stood there until they reached their stop.
There were a lot of people covered in yellow dust that day.
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u/faithhopecarnage 14h ago
Does anyone know why the dust was yellow? Sorry genuine question.
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u/peakprovisions 14h ago
You're fine! It wasn't actually that yellow in person. Like a beige-y off white color. I googled it and it mostly consisted of dust from crushed concrete, gypsum wallboards, and insulation.
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u/lilaccheesecake 14h ago
You can watch videos of inside the lobbies after the initial impact and the color is much more liek you describe except in some pockets where it looks kinda like the green above.
I wonder if it was just the cameras or wierd lighting from fire alarms going off and what not.
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u/Loose-Chemical-4982 12h ago
Insulation contains glass fibers so it's different light reflecting off of it that causes weird colors
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u/marquisofmilwaukie 19h ago
I remember seeing a ton of people walking out of the Lafayette street station in Brooklyn from the C train all looking like this. like ghosts.
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u/jaymz993 2h ago
Its crazy to think they still got on their train to go home after witnessing and being caught in such a tragedy even though of course you would, to get home to your loved ones as soon as you could
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u/Devon465 19h ago
After the incident many suffered and perished from cancer who lived around that area. And it was caused by asbetos used in the buildings (the tiny straw like structure of asbestos can cause insane inflamation once inhaled leading up to cancer). If I'm correct the US government didn't speak about it until recently.
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u/HairyDust4826 21h ago edited 21h ago
The long term effects that were kept secret by NYC via giuliani's administration are disgusting.
(Edit for those not in the news loop, I'm referencing this: NYC.Gov )
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u/Jerk_Johnson 21h ago
Its amazing there was no class action lawsuit from the asbestos exposure. Meanwhile, the building's owner gets a double payout.
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u/MKEast-sider 21h ago
Didn’t the files showing prior knowledge just get released 2 days ago?
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u/Jerk_Johnson 21h ago
Not to mention the put options on United and American airlines.
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u/Lightn1ng 21h ago
Not accurate - There were class claims. More than 10,000 rescue and recovery workers pursued consolidated litigation against New York City and its contractors over asbestos and toxic dust exposure at Ground Zero, which settled in 2010 for roughly $712–713 million! (paid through the WTC Captive Insurance Co. fund), and a separate group settled with the Port Authority for about $47.5 million. Cancer claims specifically came later, after the science caught up, which is part of why the federal September 11th Victim Compensation Fund was reopened and extended to cover people diagnosed years or decades after
Also the owner got 4.55 billion from insurance and almost none of it went to him personally as profit — the reporting is fairly consistent that the proceeds were both contractually required to be used for rebuilding (his lease terms obligated him to restore the buildings) and were, in practice, consumed by debt, legal fees, and buyout obligations well before rebuilding even started.
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u/SugarBeefs 17h ago
Also the owner got 4.55 billion from insurance and almost none of it went to him personally as profit — the reporting is fairly consistent that the proceeds were both contractually required to be used for rebuilding (his lease terms obligated him to restore the buildings) and were, in practice, consumed by debt, legal fees, and buyout obligations well before rebuilding even started.
I've always found it fascinating how many people seem to think Silverstein could just pull a classic simple insurance scam as if the lease contracts on some of the most iconic and valuable real estate in the world (that had been subjected to a terror attack before!) wouldn't be absolutely ironclad in every conceivable way.
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u/FearlessJuan 16h ago
I recall Silverstein negotiating forever the payout. I thought insurance claims were non-negotiable and assessed as per the policy.
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u/irespondwithmyface 20h ago
There was. My father-in-law received a payout from the 9/11 fund after two cancer diagnosises.
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u/HairyDust4826 21h ago
You think the man who leaks black ink from his head got a cut of it?
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u/mikehiler2 21h ago
That would be unsubstantiated slander to speculate on such nonsense. On an unrelated note, though, I’m sure he and his family and close friends got some sweet all-expenses-paid vacations to some very expensive places soon after the cover up.
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u/abruzzi5 21h ago edited 20h ago
Honest question, wasn’t Giuliani only mayor of nyc for 3 and a half months after this? I guess that all long term effects were shown long after his term.
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u/ErnV3rn81 21h ago
If 9,000 people died of cancer from breathing the air during the aftermath, and the administration hid the danger, then that administration killed 3 times the number of people who died in 9/11...
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u/JourneymanHunt 21h ago
I volunteered down at St. Paul's chapel afterwards. Got my first little bit of melanoma before 50.
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u/steppponme 21h ago
Melanoma or mesothelioma?
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u/tetranordeh 21h ago
Between 2005 and 2015, WTC workers had a 34% higher risk for developing melanoma than everybody else in NY state. https://www.dermatologytimes.com/view/world-trade-center-9-11-rescue-workers-show-higher-risk-of-melanoma
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u/Drtikol42 16h ago
I like the part of the study where they ignored anyone that wasn´t non-hispanic white (full one third of the rescue workers), or the part where pre-2001 data is just not there?
You truly should only trust statistics that you falsify yourself.
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u/spreadthesheets 14h ago
The actual study is more nuanced than the press release (u can follow the link in references and it is open access). Here’s the conclusion:
In conclusion, our analysis confirmed an increased incidence of melanoma among non-Hispanic White WTC rescue/recovery workers. Compared with that among the NYS population, the increase in incidence started after 2004 and persisted despite the extension of the follow-up. This result and the result from internal analyses showing a higher risk for those who responded shortly after the attacks are consistent with a contributory role of WTC exposure, but alternative explanations cannot be excluded. Regardless of the precise causes, the results support the continued study of this population for melanoma.
Regarding the population, this may be because different ethnicities have different risks and incidence of cancer development; if the authors included everyone and then separated by groups, there would be quite unequal group sizes. It makes sense to focus on one specific population first and then expand from there in future research
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u/JourneymanHunt 21h ago
First. Luckily the lungs are good for now.
I wasn't sure that melanoma was tied to it, but after applying to the 9/11 victims fund, I found out it is.
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u/steppponme 20h ago
Oh wow, TIL! Honestly just thought it was a typo.
Thank you for sharing your story ❤️
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u/like_a_pharaoh 17h ago
yeah UV exposure is the biggest (and easiest to avoid) cause of melanoma, but other things can cause melanoma too including getting exposed to carcinogenic substances.
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u/steppponme 17h ago
Idk if you listen to the Daily podcast but they discussed the air quality report release on today's episode.
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u/Muggy_Buggy 21h ago
It’s a blessing in disguise that photos like this exist so we truly never forget.
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u/itsavalthing 21h ago
Haunting photos. My god the horrific events that the victims and hero’s had to endure during this time and months/years later.
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u/facepoppies 21h ago
she owed hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills for cancer treatment
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u/ex0thermist 18h ago
This is definitely the photo I remember always being haunted by the most. She's clearly so beautiful and so well put together under all that dust, and now she's just in utter shock. Every time I see this I just wish I could reach through space and time to give her a hug.
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u/New_Yogurtcloset_242 20h ago
asbestos did that to her and they covered it up for decades.
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u/Emotional-Main5388 2h ago
And they are doing it right now in the Ohio town where the train derailed. There are people are suffering from the exposure but you dont see any public figure speaking about it
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u/Ovariesforlunch 19h ago
Incredible. How much exposure do you think it took to cause her illness? A few days/weeks of repeated exposure or an acute amount the day of?
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u/Magnon 18h ago
Acute she wasnt exactly going to work after this. A lot of shit would've settled in her lungs
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u/like_a_pharaoh 17h ago
What she died of was stomach cancer, but she almost certainty swallowed some of that dust along with breathing some in.
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u/Noxious89123 17h ago
The thing to remember is that once you're exposed to asbestos, it stays in your lungs basically permanently. The fibres are like microscopic barbed needles.
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u/corgi_717 18h ago
With asbestos it varies. But potentially it doesn't take that much exposure. And the amount she was expose to is enormous.
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u/Inspector_Five 20h ago
I remember seeing this photo a few days after the event. Wild I'm now the same age she was when she passed from cancer.
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u/fancytrash1234 21h ago
Just remember the “always remember” people are the same people who cry out “support our troops” and then fight to keep healthcare from those affected by 9/11 and strip VA funds. Quit defending the rich they’re on a different team and don’t care about anyone else
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u/onlyNSFWclips 16h ago
"NEVER FORGET." To deny the survivors and anyone else involved in the rescue and clean-up operations the truth of what they were breathing in and the subsequent healthcare they would require due to our negligence. Thank you and GOD BLESS 'MURICA!
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u/No-Insurance-3010 17h ago
NJ won’t even fund or complete the memorial after 25 years already. How does that happen?
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u/burdfloor 13h ago
I remember on 9/11 about 10:30 AM. Walking north to get away from hell. A NYC fireman in full gear was riding. Harley south into Hell. The man had balls not bone spurs.
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u/Infinite_Flan4797 18h ago
Now that I'm 40+ and can fully understand the millions of people killed in the aftermath through corruption, cancer, and war... Maybe the people who survived may not have ultimately been the "lucky ones" to have to carry it with you for so long.
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u/phillybol99 17h ago
Crazy. We will never know how many people died years later because of this. I would say thousands more.
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u/Various-Ad258 13h ago
The terrorists continue to kill Americans from that single attack. I believe it’s reported that 3 times more people have died from a 9/11 related disease than those who died from the attack itself. A dark day I remember all too well
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u/DazzlingBath623 10h ago
Am I the only one traumatized by this picture? I feel like I’ve been shown this picture of this terrified woman about 100 times since 9/11
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u/mercy390 18h ago
Remember when Mike Rodgers said this was an NYC problem and funding healthcare for the survivors of the aftermath was too expensive?
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u/Dan26air 21h ago
Trump just said to everyone he was pulled out of the rubble and carried away by firefighters, he seems to have had no adverse effects ...?
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u/NoOnesKing 20h ago
Fuck every single mayor of NYC except Mamdani for covering up what Giuliani did to these people. Fucking insane.
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u/UrAntiChrist 19h ago
I really hope he continues doing the right thing for New York.
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u/Ambitious-Concern-42 15h ago
Long term how many cancer deaths were there from the dust? I seem to recall 50,000 but that could be wildly off.
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u/Dr_Sigmund_Fried 11h ago
Was it mesothelioma from all the asbestos in those buildings?
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u/Clarence_the_page 7h ago
It was stomach cancer. An unusually high percentage of people who were at ground zero went on to develop stomach cancer, so it’s almost certainly connected.
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u/TalkingPoleFace 21h ago
Rudy Giuliani is still alive and we should lock him up for this.
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u/maxjuli3n 13h ago
that’s some final destination shit…you escape that type of disaster/catastrophe to die of cancer at 42? Jesus
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u/Hi_AJ 10h ago
It’s not a coincidence. The cancer was caused by her exposure to all the crap you see on her and in the air at that time.
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u/Rudy_Nowhere 11h ago
Uuhhh, are you aware many survivors close to ground zero got really sick and died years later? They breathed in some pretty noxious shit.
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u/ChipmunkBackground46 21h ago
And we are just now finding out all the public information about the toxic materials in these buildings and of course nothing is being done about it.
"Never Forget"
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u/Sioluishere 10h ago
This is why there are so many conspiracy theories about insurance and whatnot.
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u/Inuhanyou123 3h ago
The amount of people who died due to the corruption of nyc and our goverment was larger than 911 itself
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u/chunkmaster86 20h ago
the dust was asbestos. the towers were full of asbestos and when they were ordered to remove all of the asbestos they realized it would cost more than the towers were worth so they took out terrorist insurance and got really lucky.
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u/Inevitable-Regret411 14h ago
The building had previously been attacked as part of a terrorist plot in 1993, so it's not surprising they insured them against the possibility of another attack.
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u/DreamTalon 21h ago
Remember how hard politicians fought to keep people from Healthcare directly related to this while screaming about Always Remember.