Ms. Borders was working on the 81st floor on Sept. 11, 2001(Stan Honda/AFP)
BAYONNE, N.J. — A New Jersey woman shown covered in dust in
an iconic photo taken after the 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City
has died.
Marcy Borders died at age 42 Monday night after a battle with stomach cancer, her daughter Noelle said Wednesday.
The Bayonne resident was working on the 81st floor in one of the Twin
Towers, but she managed to escape. She told reporters afterward that as
the north tower crumbled before her eyes, a stranger pulled her into a
building lobby, out of harm’s way. The striking image of her was
captured by Stan Honda with AFP.
Last year, Ms. Borders said she had avoided looking at the photo because ‘‘I don’t want to be a victim anymore.’’
In
an interview with The Jersey Journal, Ms. Borders said her traumatic
experience caused her to fall into a decade-long depression that led her
to abuse alcohol and drugs. She entered rehab in 2011 and said she had
remained clean.
Ms. Borders learned she had stomach cancer in August 2014 and she
underwent chemotherapy. At the time, the mother of two questioned if her
cancer was related to the attacks.
‘‘I’m saying to myself ‘Did
this thing ignite cancer cells in me?’ ’’ she told the newspaper. ‘‘I
definitely believe it because I haven’t had any illnesses. I don’t have
high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes.’’
Researchers
have not yet determined whether exposure to toxins during the attacks
made anyone more likely to get certain types of cancer.
Related: Lioying in the Dust of 9/11
Looks like they never will, and did you know Don Rumsfeld recently visited Bo$ton?
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