Today is Monday, September 11, 2023. Today is the 22nd anniversary of the worst terorrist attack on American soil, the assault on the World Trade Center in downtown Manhattan that claimed the lives of 2,753 innocent Americans. The death toll would be higher with the crash of United Flight 93 in Pennsylvania and the American Airlines Flight 77 that crashed into the Pentagon in Virginia, killing all 64 people on the plane and 125 people in the Pentagon. Altogether, there were 2,977 casualties on that appalling day.

Let us not forget the thousands of first responders and volunteers who ran into the carnage in Lower Manhattan and have since contracted life-threatening diseases as a result of their being exposed to the toxic fumes and gases emanating from Ground Zero. So in the wake of the terrible terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, people are still being affected by it – 22 years later.

One article in today’s Daily News brings home that sad reality, “Plea for more health aid: FDNY to feds: Add autoimmune, cardiovascular diseases to WTC-tied list,” by Thomas Tracy. The article centers on the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) that is urging federal authorities to add two more conditions to its growing list of 9/11-related illnesses, the paper has learned.

Those two conditions include certain autoimmune diseases, including lupus, psoriatic arthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis, and cardiovascular diseases, according to FDNY doctor David Prezant and doctors with the World Trade Center Clinical Centers of Excellence – clinics that deal with 9/11 illness sufferers. Two petitions were made to the World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP) on behalf of these two conditions seen in survivors of the terror attack in 2001.

That FDNY doctor, David Prezant, and clinic directors wrote the two conditions may be directly related to survivors’ exposure to toxic fumes that hung above Ground Zero for weeks after the terror attack.

A spokeswoman for the WTCHP said the agency is reviewing the petitions.

“If the petitions succeed, survivors suffering from the illnesses named will receive full coverage from the WTCHP for past and future medical treatments.” Then these survivors would be able to receive payouts from the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.

As to what autoimmune diseases really entail, these conditions emerge when the body’s natural defense systems are confused and attack normal body cells. Symptoms usually include severe joint inflammation and pain.

More than 550 people enrolled in the WTCHP suffer from rheumatologic systemic autoimmune diseases that can be traced to their time at Ground Zero, Prezant said.

In addition to suffering from autoimmune illnesses, a stunning number of 9/11 first responders and survivors have also suffered from congestive heart failure, arrhythmia, strokes, and other cardiovascular diseases, which led doctors to suspect a Ground Zero correlation.

The risk, it seemed, of getting cardiovascular disease, depended on when one arrived at the World Trade Center site, doctors found.

The FDNY doctor, Prezant, said “[T]he risk for cardiovascular diseases was higher in those arriving on day one as compared to arriving later.” He added, “Members arriving on 9/11 had significantly higher risk for self-reported cardiovascular disease than those who arrived on [Sept. 12] or later.” More than 4,000 first responders and survivors enrolled in the WTCHP “have confirmed cardiovascular diseases,” according to the studies.

As of June 30, more than 125,400 people nationwide were enrolled in the WTCHP, agency statistics show.

Now Prezant’s petitions are among the first steps in a review process to see if these ailments can be added to the list of federally recognized World Trade Center conditions. However, the petition process could take months to complete. A similar proposal to add cancers of the uterus to the 9/11 illness list took eight months to complete.

So, from this article, it is now understood that the carnage from that terrible September day 22 years ago is still claiming many lives here in New York.

Let us make a solemn vow then in light of this still-unfolding situation, “We will never forget!”

As for us, tomorrow Elliot and I will be visiting our friends “Peter”and “Ted” in Highland, New York, for two days, returning on Thursday, September 14.

So I’ll see you back on Thursday.

Enjoy the week.

Stay safe and be well.