Six NYC 9/11 Officers Stricken With Brain Cancer
Updated: April 10th, 2006 03:59 PM PDT
April
9, 2006 -- An alarming number of 9/11 responders have been stricken
with brain cancer - including six NYPD cops, The Post has learned.
At least 11 of the Ground Zero rescue and recovery workers and their
families claim in a class-action lawsuit - which includes dozens of
other cancer victims - that toxic air and dust caused or triggered the
rare, often fatal, brain illness.
Three brain-cancer victims have died, raising the total death toll
in a 7,300-plaintiff lawsuit brought by workers and their families to
41, said lead attorney David Worby.
They include Stephen "Rak" Yurek, 46, a Port Authority emergency
technician from Bayonne, N.J., who died Dec. 11 after a 16-month
illness. He left behind a wife and four children ages 10 to 25.
His widow, Mary Ellen, said he was healthy before his 2004 diagnosis.
"He was never sick a day in his life," she told The Post.