Family and friends described Marci Simms as a hero, a fighter ?? and now an angel.
Simms, a lieutenant in the police department of New York City, died last week of lung cancer 14 years after working for several weeks at Ground Zero in the wake of the terrorist attack 9 / 11 World trade Centre. She was 51.
She was the last of the nearly 1,700 people who died as a result of their work after the initial attack, mostly from the toxic dust cloud that engulfed the rescue, recovery and cleaning effort for months in New York.
Simms was one of 201 certified cases of lung cancer linked to terrorist attacks, according to the US Centers for World Trade Center Disease Control and Prevention health program.
death has raised awareness of the effects still ongoing and tragic 9/11, and 15 percent of all lung cancer cases not involve smoking or secondhand tobacco smoke.
"dust in the air was soft powder, the air was gray, and when I breathed in, I could feel my throat burning," she said in a journalism school student who wrote his fate in 2014. Stony Brook University "You felt like it was simply burn your throat."
Lung cancer Doesn ?? t Only Hit smokers
Simms was diagnosed with lung cancer stage IV in June 2014.
Although it ?? s usually associated with smoking, occupational exposure can also cause lung cancer. The terrorist attack sprayed asbestos and dozens of other carcinogens in the Twin Towers and created a persistent cloud of death in the air.
Simms was a rookie officer when she answered the call at the World Trade Center, and worked tirelessly through the recovery efforts. Over the years, she rose through the ranks of the NYPD, but his health began to deteriorate.
what she originally believed was a cyst in her stomach and breathing problems, turned out to be lung cancer.
legislators must renew the James Zadroga Act
His death is another rallying cry for those lobbying Congress today for the renewal of all the Health Act and compensation James Zadroga 9/11 expire in 2016.
the origin Zadroga Act became law in December 2010. It was designed to provide much needed medical services for Ground Zero responders exposed to toxins.
The Simms happily covered up, but she was worried that others will follow her may not be so lucky. There are tens of thousands who are now health problems fighting against one or maybe in the future.
Diagnosis of an illness related to asbestos, such as mesothelioma can often take 10-40 years after exposure. The World Trade Center Health Program has already reported more than 4,000 cases of various cancers.
The 201 cases of lung cancer are actually less than some had expected. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the US An estimated 157,000 people will die of lung cancer in 2015, according to the American Lung Association. And about 221,000 new cases will be diagnosed this year.
If Simms has attracted considerable attention throughout New York City and beyond. Through her career, she worked in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Flushing. She was the youngest of six children. Friends say she loved her career and other serving as NYPD officer.
"She was an amazing woman," said her sister Susan Fosco the New York Daily News. "She turned around when she was a little girl and said she wanted to be a cop. She always said if I man can do, I can do it too."
