9/11 EMT Mordechai Shedrowitzky Underwent 2024 Airway Surgery After Toxic Dust Exposure
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Sep 10
9/11 EMT Mordechai Shedrowitzky Underwent 2024 Airway Surgery After Toxic Dust Exposure
1 articles · Updated · Fox News · Sep 10
Summary
Mordechai Shedrowitzky, 51, said years of worsening breathing problems after working at Ground Zero led to a 2024 tracheobronchoplasty for tracheobronchomalacia, a collapse of the windpipe and major airways.
2019 marked a sharp decline, with a persistent cough, repeated steroid use, respiratory infections and hospitalizations before the CDC-run World Trade Center Health Program classified his condition as 9/11-related.
NYU doctor Denise Harrison said the highly alkaline 9/11 dust damaged both upper and lower airways, helping drive long-term illnesses including sinus disease, asthma, COPD and related digestive disorders.
More than 400,000 people were exposed after the attacks, and the WTC Health Program had over 130,000 enrolled members by March 2025; 8,215 enrollees had died, though the program does not tie deaths directly to exposure.
Two years after surgery, Shedrowitzky said he is speaking more easily and hopes to return to work, while doctors warn 9/11-related health effects will keep surfacing for decades.