Ground Zero first responder needed major surgery decades after 9/11 exposure: ‘I thought it was over’

Members of the FDNY's Squad 18 who were off duty on the morning of 9/11 worked 24-hour shifts digging through the wreckage at ground zero in search of missing firefighters.

"Sometimes I marvel at not having lost even more friends on Sept. 11 — and struggle with the eventual deaths that day set in motion," said Scott Strauss is a former detective with the NYPD Emergency Service Unit.

The 25th anniversary of the horrific events of 9/11 will be, as it must, a somber reminder of those we lost on the deadliest day in American history.

Volunteer EMT Mordechai Shedrowitzky shares how Ground Zero dust exposure led to years of hospitalizations, steroids and a rare airway disease diagnosis.