The number of men developing breast cancer while working or living near Ground Zero has skyrocketed, a Post investigation has found.
The federal Centers for Disease Control reports that 91 men participating in the World Trade Center Health Program have been diagnosed with breast cancer, six times the number the Post first reported in 2018. According to lawyers, this is 90 times the national average. For some victims.
Breast cancer is a rare disease in men, with approximately 1 in 100,000 men developing this potentially fatal disease.
This is so rare that many men don't even know they can get breast cancer, in contrast to women who get tested regularly.
However, 91 out of 98,590 men in WTCHP have been diagnosed with the disease, the report said. Data compiled by Centers for Disease Control.
That rate is an astonishing 90 times the national average based on federal health data, said attorney Michael Barasch, who represents 54 male breast cancer patients enrolled in WTCHP.
“These numbers may be the tip of the iceberg,” Barash said. “Breast cancer is exploding among men.”
Presumably related to the toxin stew that spewed into the air when Manhattan's two World Trade Center towers collapsed on September 11, 2001, after terrorists crashed a hijacked plane into the building. There are over 50 cancers, diseases and other diseases. Cancer is one of them.
First responders, employees, and residents who develop breast cancer at the Ground Zero Zone south of Canal Street will receive government-funded treatment and a $250,000 reward from the Victim Compensation Fund if they enroll in the WTC Health Program. I am eligible to receive it.
One of the WTCHP breast cancer survivors is Jeffrey Glennon, 60, of East Hills, Long Island.
Glennon was the director of Weeks Marine, located on Pier 25 next to Stuyvesant High School, and was responsible for loading dangerous debris onto barges trucked from Ground Zero to the then-closed Fresh Kills Landfill. It was.
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He discovered a pea-sized lump on his chest while taking a shower in April 2019 and was later diagnosed with breast cancer.
There was no doubt in his mind that the 11-month journey of transporting smoldering hazardous materials from the WTC was the cause of the strange illness.
“We were working 12-hour shifts, and trucks kept coming with debris,” Glennon said.
“I was surprised, but not surprised. I spent a lot of time at Ground Zero.”
He also suffers from gastroesophageal reflux disease and sleep apnea. He recently underwent surgery on his left shoulder and two hip replacements.
“You wait for the other shoe to drop. It's been tough,” said Glennon, who has three children.
He credited his wife Deborah with helping him get through and recover, saying she was by his side “every step of the way.”
Men as well as women, especially those who worked or lived near smoldering Ground Zero, should get breast cancer screenings, she says, because “men can get breast cancer too.” .
Joseph Porcaro, 62, a New Jersey correctional officer, spent the weekend volunteering in a tent at the city's morgue, collecting the remains of responders and others killed when the tower collapsed in a terrorist attack. did.
Porcaro was diagnosed with breast cancer in October 2019 after moving to Florida.
He recalled seeing Beyoncé Knowles' father Matthew reveal on a TV show: had breast cancer After I first realized something was wrong when I saw bloodstains on my t-shirt.
Porcaro noticed blood stains on his shirt two weeks ago.
“I've never been told to check myself. I'm a guy,” Porcaro said.
“I had breast cancer at one point. I didn't know it. It happened out of the blue.”
An ultrasound and biopsy revealed that both breasts were infected with cancer. This was an extremely rare diagnosis for a man.
“The doctor said, 'I have bad news for you.' You have bilateral breast cancer, which I've never seen in a man before,” Porcaro recalled.
Porcaro said she sought aggressive treatment: a double mastectomy. He needed to take care of his 22-year-old daughter, who is developmentally disabled.
He underwent surgery on December 12, 2019.
Porcaro developed an infection after surgery, which delayed his entire treatment, including 12 weeks of radiation therapy.
He pointed out that men have breast tissue just like women, but not as much.
She said she was not genetically predisposed to developing breast cancer and blamed her illness on inhaling dirty dust at the morgue.
“Every carcinogen known to man was present on the World Trade Center grounds,” Porcaro said.
“I remember the body bags arriving very dusty.”
He is still taking anti-cancer drugs.
Men should do what women are told to do: self-exam and go to the doctor, Barash said.
“Don't ignore the symptoms. If you feel or notice something in your chest, get tested. Women get regular medical checkups,” he said.
Meanwhile, of the 31,430 women enrolled in the WTCHP, 3,540, or 24.16%, were diagnosed with breast cancer, which is also significantly higher than the national average for women (129.4 per 100,000), according to Barash. This is said to be a high rate.
City Health Department officials said the city health department needs to further review breast cancer data before acting.
A 2022 study conducted by the city's health department found that the incidence of breast cancer among women near Ground Zero was lower than the rate for the state's population as a whole, representatives said.
