Marcy Borders, the woman who became known as the “dust lady” after she was photographed covered in ash following the destruction of the World Trade Center, has died.
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Marcy Borders, from New Jersey, had been working for a month at Bank of America in the north tower.
Marcy Borders, 42, was the businesswoman, covered in dust from head to toe, who was captured on film moments before the south tower of the World Trade Center collapsed.
Borders told NJ.com at the time that she avoided looking at the “Dust Lady” photo because she saw herself as a “survivor”, and didn’t “want to be a victim anymore”.
But Borders became severely depressed and started smoking crack in the years after the attack, she said, before finally finding “peace of mind” after the death of 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden.
But Borders, after losing custody of her two kids, checked into rehab in April 2011, and remained sober since, she told The Jersey Journal in November. Instead of staying at her desk, as her boss had ordered, the nypost reports that the employee fled from the building and into the streets. “I don’t have high blood pressure…high cholesterol, diabetes”.
“I used to watch TV a lot, the TV was never off”, she said.
She said: ‘Everything was falling, there was debris everywhere.
Just 12 hours later, various members of Borders’ family announced on Facebook that she had lost her battle with cancer. “My emotions are around the area right now”. “I can’t think about being there, in those targets, the bridges, the tunnels, the (subway) stations”, she said in a March 2012 interview.
“My life spiralled out of control”.
“The father of my daughter took her; I can’t take care of myself, so I can’t take care of her”.
Four years ago she told how the attack haunted her every day and she had turned into a recluse, rarely leaving her flat, drinking a lot and even turning to crack cocaine to numb the pain.
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In 2011, President Barack Obama signed into law the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act that allowed Congress to set aside $2.78bn to compensate first responders with illnesses that might be related to the terror attacks.
