25 years later, 9/11 responders are still dying from illnesses tied to the attacks

WASHINGTON — The Sept. 11, 2001 attacks killed thousands of people in a matter of hours. Nearly 25 years later, illnesses tied to response efforts continue claiming lives. More than 400 FBI employees have been diagnosed, and dozens have died.

Hundreds of first responders and others who helped in the hours, days and weeks after the attacks have developed serious illnesses, many of them cancer. More than 30 FBI agents who later died have their names memorialized on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial near the Judiciary Square Metro station.

"And the number continues to rise," said Darren Cox, assistant director in charge of the FBI's Washington Field Office. He told WTOP that FBI employees have been diagnosed with illnesses related to their service at the Pentagon, the World Trade Center in New York, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

"For over two weeks, the FBI employees worked there at the scene," Cox said. "They were rendering aid when they first got there, and helping other victims. And then that transitioned into the investigative phase and collecting evidence and collecting parts of the plane and documents from DoD at the time, from the Pentagon."

John Adams, a retired FBI agent and one of the Evidence Response Team leaders, arrived minutes after American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon and spent weeks at the site.

Since then, Adams said he has watched friends and colleagues become sick and die from illnesses tied to their response efforts.

Three years ago, he was diagnosed with Stage 4 melanoma. "I was just having some back pain, and really thought I'd pulled a muscle or something like that," Adams said, "and it turned out to be a tumor that in my spine that had spread from other parts in my body."

The World Trade Center Health Program determined his cancer was related to his 9/11 exposure.

Adams said it wasn't until 2008 that he realized the chemicals and carcinogens responders were exposed to might lead to cancer. That's when a fellow team member Bob Roth developed multiple myeloma and died.

"That hit me really hard, actually, because as a team leader, I was in charge of assigning people to go into the building and conduct the search and recovery, and he was one of those individuals," Adams told WTOP. "And from an emotional standpoint, I took that pretty hard. Really he was only acting, doing what I asked him to do, and … as a result of that, then he ended up getting cancer and dying."

Thirteen of the 33 FBI employees who have died of cancers related to 9/11 exposure worked at the Pentagon site, Adams said.

By the time Adams learned he had cancer, tumors had spread throughout his body, including to his liver to spleen.

"It was actually a rare form of melanoma," he said. "That's an interesting part or piece of information about the individuals that have died. It has been cancers that are rare."

Still, Adams said he considers himself fortunate.

"The type of cancer that I had, melanoma, there's been a lot of research and development and some amazing treatments that have been developed," Adams said.

He said he's been cancer-free now for a year.

As the 25th anniversary of the attacks approaches, Adams and Cox said they hope the FBI employees who responded that day will also be remembered.

"The one common theme among the FBI, all of our employees, is that dedication," said Cox. "That morning of Sept. 11, the dedication that it took for those heroes to respond."

"I think it's easy for people to forget about the sacrifices that me and others made during that day," Adams said.

"The victims that died that day, we should continue to recognize and celebrate their lives," he continued, "and I'm really proud of the fact that there's a memorial now at the Pentagon that recognizes the victims of that day. But I also want to emphasize that it wasn't just people that died on that day. It's people that were responders that day that continue to die each year."

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