CBS 2 Exclusive: 9/11 Claims Another Hero
City Transit Worker Dies From Rare Blood Cancer

http://wcbstv.com/topstories/local_story_066231113.html

Lou Young
3/7/2007

(CBS) NEW YORK There are new worries about the health of workers at ground zero following the death of a city transportation worker assigned to the site.

Patricia Rooney says toxic dust killed her husband, Phillip. She is still coming to grips with what she lost.

She buried her husband of 12 years on Monday, a city transportation worker who was 35 when assigned to work at ground zero, 38 when the blood cancer started to waste him and 41 when he died. She has no doubt it was the toxic dust and smoke of 9/11 that took Phillip before his time.

"He was fine until he went down there, a totally healthy man," Patricia said. "Prior to 9/11 he didn't have a job where he was associated with these high risks that are associated with leukemia like the benzene and all the toxins. His job was not like that. He had no job like that. There was nothing in his life to indicate for him to get cancer or the type of leukemia he got."

There's no way to be certain what caused the cancer, but in a man Philip's age we're told it is rare, perhaps 1 in 150,000. Among the ground zero responders, however, the disease seems to be much more common.

"We just did a fundraiser for a man dying of the same leukemia," first responder advocate John Teal said. "Unless you are a fan of mass murder or genocide, you gotta stop the bleeding now. These guys need help. They need help now."

Phillip left behind three children, a son and 2 daughters. Patricia said they deserve the same benefits police officers and firefighters received in similar circumstances.

"My husband was a city employee and they are denying him a three-quarter pension and we deserve it. He deserved it and now he's gone and his three children deserve it."

The city's position is because Phillips never had the kind of pre-employment health screening that police officers and firefighters have there's no way to prove he wasn't already sick when they sent to him to ground zero. The Bush Administration has pledged $25 million for health care for ground zero workers, but that comes a little late for Phillip Rooney.