America
'Dust lady' of 9/11 attack dies of cancer
Washington, Aug 26
Marcy Borders, a 9/11
attack survivor known as the "dust lady" whose photograph became one of
the enduring images of the terrorist attacks, has died aged 42 after
suffering from stomach cancer, media reported on Wednesday.
Borders
became known as the "dust lady" after a photo showed her covered in
dust as she escaped the World Trade Center during the attacks, BBC
reported.
Borders, a mother of two, died on Monday, her family said on Facebook.
She blamed her cancer on inhaling dust during the attack and suffered from alcoholism and anxiety in later years.
"I can't believe my sister is gone," her brother Michael Borders wrote on Facebook.
Her cousin John Borders called her a "hero" and said she had "succumbed to the diseases that (had) ridden her body since 9/11".
"In
addition to losing so many friends, co-workers and colleagues on and
after that tragic day ... the pains from yesteryear have found a way to
resurface," he added.
On September 11, 2001, Borders was just one
month into a new job at Bank of America on the 81st floor of the north
tower when the plane hit.
"The building started quaking and
swaying. I lost all control, and I went into a frenzy. I fought my way
out of that place," she told the Daily Mail in 2011.
Defying
instructions from her boss to stay put, she fled down the stairway and
into the lobby of an adjacent building where she was photographed.
In 2011, Barack Obama instituted a $2.78 billion fund to compensate first responders for health problems related to the attacks.
Borders' daughter Noelle told the New York Post on Wednesday her mother "fought an amazing battle".
"Not only is she the 'Dust Lady' but she is my hero and she will forever live through me," she said.