Almost 48,000 people have reported suffering from 9/11-related illnesses since that fateful 2001 day, and now, a Fox News correspondent is among that group. The New York Post reports that Eric Shawn was in lower Manhattan on Thursday to mark the 24th anniversary of the terror attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people when he made his reveal, informing viewers that he has received "two different diagnoses under the World Trade Center Program," a federal initiative that offers medical care for first responders and those who lived through the attacks.
The journalist said he now has respiratory issues, as well as cancer, tied to the Sept. 11 assault and its aftermath, after he hung out around ground zero to carry out his reporting duties. Shawn was diagnosed with cancer just this year, a whole 20 years-plus after the New York City attack. "Back then, I [remember] thinking maybe 20, 30 years later I'll get something," he said in a Fox News clip. "Well, here it is, 24 years."
More than 3,700 first responders have since died of 9/11 illnesses, including around 2,300 from various cancers, though Shawn noted that even those who weren't helping at the WTC site were vulnerable. "If you were below Canal Street, basically, you were exposed to the dust," adding, "I was here reporting on it. That's what happened with me."
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Still, Shawn says he's luckier than most, as he's lost several friends to similar sicknesses. He told hosts on Thursday's Fox & Friends that he'll never forget that day, per Adweek. "I will forever remember the smell, the sights, the dust that was just overwhelming," he said. "There was an acrid, metal taste and metal smell that permeated Manhattan. You couldn't get rid of it, and that went on for weeks and weeks and months."
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