25 years on from 9/11: How toxic exposure left responders and survivors fighting for help

Responders, survivors and advocates spent decades battling governments for recognition, treatment and compensation for illnesses linked to 9/11

Firefighters walking towards one of the towers at the World Trade Center before it collapsed on September 11, 2001. In the firefighter community, cancers are seen as an inevitability where young men got cancers that only older men got, or men got cancers that only women got. File photo: Jose Jimenez/Primera Hora/Getty Images

John Feal wasn’t in the World Trade Center when the Twin Towers collapsed.

But he answered the call and, like thousands of others, that decision has led to a quarter of a century of advocacy and fight.