23 Years After 9/11, Families of Cancer Victims Fight for Benefits

Some families are still pushing for recognition after their loved ones died from cancer that they believe is linked to Sept. 11, but that the federal government won’t recognize as such.

In the weeks that followed Sept. 11, 2001, when David Skiba came home from lengthy search-and-rescue shifts at ground zero, his wife would take his shoes and place them outside.

“That’s people’s ashes,” Matt Skiba, their son, remembers his mother saying as she carefully handled the dust-covered boots.

David Skiba, a 37-year-old New York state trooper, was working in internal affairs in Albany at the time of the attacks, but he was quickly reassigned to the site of the World Trade Center. There, immersed in thick clouds of toxic dust, he helped supervise rescue and recovery efforts, according to affidavits signed by his colleagues.

He worked 12 hours at a time, commuting from his home in Waterford, N.Y., to Lower Manhattan, and often staying at the Hotel Pennsylvania in Chelsea. From September through November, he was the member of his unit who was most frequently assigned to the site, one of the affidavits said.

Three years later, he started feeling sick. In January 2005, he was diagnosed with lung cancer. On Feb. 19, 2008, at the age of 43, he died.

Soon after, the Skibas joined a group of families fighting for recognition and compensation from the World Trade Center Health Program and the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. At issue was the program’s cancer latency policy, which stipulates that many cancers diagnosed before Sept. 11, 2005, cannot be considered linked to the attacks, and therefore those victims and their families are not eligible for federal benefits.