One of the first firefighters on the scene when two planes slammed into the Twin Towers has died, the 124th first responder to die from a 9/11 related disease.
Ireland-born Brian J. Masterson succumbed to a two-year battle with esophageal cancer on Jan. 22, the Longford Leader reported.
The 61-year-old father-of-three and avid marathon runner, originally from Longford, Ireland, spent months working at Ground Zero after the attack, the Daily Mail reported.
“My uncle fought very hard for two years overcoming the odds, and died on Sunday night with his family by his side,” Masterson’s nephew Christopher Ferry told the Leader.
“The number of firefighters and other first responders being diagnosed with cancer as a direct result of working so many days at the site of the Twin Towers has been constantly growing to this very day,” Ferry added.
The day before Masterson died, fellow firefighter Kevin Rooney, 38, also passed away after working on 9/11, the Daily Mail reported.
Masterson had retired from FDNY Marine Company 9 in 2015 and worked for Ladder 45 for nearly 20 years.
Rooney worked for Engine Company 42 in the Bronx.
“His life was dedicated to the job he loved and started out in back in 1990 and survived several life threatening emergencies,” Claudia E. Thomas, Founder of the 9/11 Rescue Workers and Friends Forum Group told The Mirror.
Masterson’s funeral was held Friday morning in Walden, NY.
No comments yet.