Decades after 9/11, first responders deal with effects of PTSD and toxic dust on brain aging

by Roberto Lucchini, for The Conversation September 10, 2026September 8, 2026

FILE: In this Sept. 11, 2001 file photo, firefighters work beneath the destroyed mullions, the vertical struts which once faced the soaring outer walls of the World Trade Center towers, after a terrorist attack on the twin towers in New York. Twenty-five years later, the aftermath of the attacks still casts a long shadow on survivors. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

HUNDREDS OF FIRST RESPONDERS have told me they remember exactly how they felt during the World Trade Center attacks, even 25 years on.

They tell me that they remember not being able to think, see or smell anything. They could focus only on digging and pulling debris out of the way. They could not rest because those trapped beneath the rubble could not wait. Death was all around them, and they could only do as much as they could to hold it back.

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