Even 20 years after the 9/11 attacks, dozens of Arizona firefighters who worked in the rubble at ground zero suffer from lung sicknesses and even cancers believed to be connected to toxins at the site.
"I think about it every morning. Because every morning from the day I got back, I cough,” said Reeny Shannon, a retired Captain from the Peoria Fire Department. Shannon suffers from what’s often referred to as the World Trade Center Cough. She now works part-time at a northern Arizona fire department and volunteers as a wilderness rescue K-9 guide.
More than 60 first responders from Arizona dug away debris and worked in the proximity of ground zero for 10 days. The site was still smoldering and considered an active pile when firefighters arrived there several days after the Sept. 11 attacks.