Post-9/11 Struggle: A Ground Zero Responder Turned Activist

With a wavering voice and hesitant breath, former ironworker and 9/11 first responder John Sferazo apologized to the audience at Hector’s Café for being somewhat unsteady with his words.

Among other things, Sferazo suffered glass impaction in his throat and voice box as a result of his rescue efforts at the World Trade Center site.

“We all suffer from some sort of respiratory or psychological problem,” Sferazo said, referring to the multitude of physical and mental issues that plague many people who were involved in rescue efforts at the World Trade Center.

Sferazo was working on the Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge that connects Brooklyn to the Rockaways in Queens on September 11, when he got the news of the terrorist attacks.  Arriving at the decimated site the following day with his fellow ironworkers, he found a virtual wasteland of detritus.

“Every trade responded to this modern-day tragedy turned epidemic,” he said, adding that most of the people working to clear through the wreckage had never been in what resembled a “warzone.”

“We depended on God,” Sferazo said, qualifying his statement by saying he was not a religious person, but needed the solace of a higher power on that day.

Approximately 8,700 national guardsmen and reservists were assigned to the Ground Zero site.

Although some people had immediate physical reactions to the sight of the carnage at the twin towers, other 9/11 responder’s reactions were yet to come, with the later onset of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)—an anxiety disorder that can occur after exposure to harrowing events.

“No one was prepared for what we saw,” said Sferazo, painfully recalling the events with a sad, faraway look in his eyes.

Frustrated by what he saw as a lack of response from the government for medical problems suffered by many that were exposed to harmful chemicals at the Ground Zero site, Sferazo made it his mission to help those that had risked their lives helping others.

“I refuse to let that death and destruction go without bettering society for our future,” said Sferazo, who assisted Hillary Clinton with obtaining “$47 million allocated for medical needs,” and founded Unsung Heroes Helping Heroes, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping 9/11 workers with medical and psychological treatment.

“Maybe because I’m an ironworker, I have a little more heart and speak my mind,” he said earnestly.

In 2000, Sferazo bought a large swath of land in Maine and created a wildlife habitat improvement in an area previously overharvested by paper companies. The land also acts as a sanctuary for veterans and first responders who are experiencing PTSD.

Working in tandem with Unity College’s Adventure Therapy program, PTSD sufferers participate in outdoor activities that are designed to assist in healing.   

Although Sferazo’s lost wages from an early retirement due to health problems at the age of 47 totaled approximately $2.4 million, he received only a small portion of this amount, $128,000, from the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.  In return, he had to agree not to file lawsuits against the government or airlines.  The fund closed in 2003.

“They let me down,” he said referring to the federal government.

More recently, in early 2011, the James L. Zadroga 9/11 Health & Compensation Act was signed into law by President Obama, and provides direct funding for medical and financial needs as well as a victim’s compensation fund. 

The Larchmont-Mamaroneck League of Women Voters (LWV) President Elisabeth Radow, presented Sferazo with a copy of American Heroes by Edmund Morgan, as the audience stood up and clapped.