When Supervisory Special Agent Melissa Morrow answered the call of duty on September 16, 2001, she unknowingly stepped into a toxic cloud that would silently follow her for years to come. For over two months, she worked daily at both the Pentagon debris site and the Alexandria Evidence Warehouse, separating classified materials, evidence, and human remains. Like many first responders, she worked without adequate personal protective equipment, inhaling the poisonous cocktail of jet fuel, pulverized concrete, asbestos, and countless other carcinogens.
Fifteen years later, in July 2016, Morrow was diagnosed with brain cancer and underwent emergency surgery. Despite a second surgery in December 2016, she succumbed to the disease on March 22, 2018. Her name now graces the FBI’s Wall of Honor, a testament to her sacrifice that continues long after the dust settled.
“She left us seven years ago … My friend, FBI Special Agent Melissa Morrow, died from the cancer she acquired after inhaling toxins while processing the 9/11 crime scene at the Pentagon. She was brilliant, beautiful, funny, athletic, hard-working, compassionate, and kind. She worked relentlessly to protect children from sexual predators. I miss her, and the world is a much lesser place without her. I hope that she and all the other victims of 9/11 Rest In Peace.” Charlie Price, retired Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent, posted on LinkedIn.
But Morrow’s story is not unique. It is one thread in a tapestry of sacrifice that grows larger with each passing year. The FBI’s Wall of Honor is overwhelmed with memorials of those who “died … from health complications associated with exposure to toxic air during 9/11 recovery efforts.” It was in 2018 that a grim milestone was reached. More people had died from toxic exposure from 9/11 than were killed on that terrible day itself. Across the country, particularly in New York, first responders who rushed into burning buildings and later spent weeks combing through the rubble at Ground Zero are facing, and unfortunately sometimes losing, similar battles. The death toll continues to climb.
In September 2023, the Fire Department of New York reported that 343 of its members had died from 9/11-related illnesses—a number that hauntingly mirrored the 343 FDNY members who perished on September 11, 2001. The sacrifice is higher now, yet it happens silently, away from cameras and headlines.
The data paints a stark picture: First responders face a 25% increased risk of prostate cancer, a staggering 219% increased risk of thyroid cancer, and a 41% increase in leukemia. Overall, they are 30% more likely to develop certain cancers compared to their peers in the same age bracket.
The federal government has acknowledged this ongoing tragedy. In 2011, President Obama signed the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, named after an New York Police Department (NYPD) detective who died in 2006 from respiratory failure linked to Ground Zero exposure. The act established the World Trade Center Health Program and the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, which, as of 2024, has paid over $14.9 billion in compensation to more than 65,600 victims suffering from or who have died from 9/11-related illnesses.
More than 130,000 people are now enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Program, with over 37,000 first responders and survivors certified with 9/11-related cancers. Yet no amount of compensation can replace what was lost. Behind each statistic is a story like Melissa Morrow’s—a life of service cut short, a family left to grieve, colleagues left with memories of a person who gave everything.
As the years pass, the attacks of September 11, 2001, reveal themselves not as a single day of tragedy, but as an ongoing sacrifice made by those who answered the call to serve. For them, 9/11 never ended.