A 9/11 first responder in hospice care issued a final plea to Congress on Fox News on Thursday afternoon, urging them to reauthorize the fund that provides health benefits to first responders.
Luis Alvarez had undergone over 65 rounds of chemotherapy until doctors found that his liver was failing and his cancer was terminal. Lying with his son, David, at his side, Alvarez implored Congress to help other first responders.
“We need this bill passed, Shep. It’s gotta be passed quickly and efficiently, so we never have to come down to Washington again and lobby. It’s not fair. I’ve been blessed. I got sick 16 years after the fact,” he began. “I’m leaving [my children] without a father and there’s plenty like me. Like I said, I’m not special. There’s plenty of guys like me, okay? I got sick 16 years after the fact. And there’s workers out there that say, ‘This isn’t going to happen to me. I’m okay. The time has passed.'”
Alvarez appeared at a House Judiciary Committee hearing last week alongside comedian Jon Stewart, whose testimony scolding members of Congress for their apparent lack of empathy went viral.
“I’m lucky to have the healthcare that I got. But there’s guys out there that don’t have it. There’s plenty of people that in terms of going through the stress of fighting cancer, they’re also fighting the financial stress of the healthcare, and it’s not right,” he continued. “You know, we served our city, our state, our country, and should be compensated for it. Not compensated in the sense that, you know, we want to be rich. We just want the money to be there for our families so that, God forbid, that they do get sick, they’re covered.”
The September 11 Victim Compensation Fund is set to expire next year. The new bill does not allocate a specific amount of money to the fund, but rather dedicates whatever amount is necessary for their care until it expires in 2090.
Alvarez concluded, “We did our job. Congress has to do theirs, okay? We were told the air was safe down there, and it wasn’t. But you know what? That doesn’t matter. Because we would have went in anyway, because that’s what we do. It’s not a job for us, it’s a calling, okay? So we would have went in anyway. And this is what happened.”
