Congratulations to Ridgley Ochs, Newsday's Health reporter, for her excellent article profiling 9/11 cancer victims and discussing the inclusion of over 50 cancers as covered conditions under the Zadtoga Act, including the World Trade Center Health program and the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund.

Our client, Joe Vuoso, a court officer in lower Manhattan on 9/11, was profiled in the article:

For Joseph Vuoso, 68, of Mount Sinai, the ruling means he will be able to worry less about money and more about keeping himself alive. A court security officer at the Foley Square courthouse in 2011, Vuoso watched the towers fall and stayed at his post the rest of that week. The next year he was diagnosed with leukemia that has since become an aggressive lymphoma.

"We have heavy medical bills," he said. "I'm on seven different drugs and the co-pays are astronomical . . . I'm fighting to keep me here right now."

His attorney, Troy Rosasco of Ronkonkoma, who represents about 500 first responders, called having cancer covered "a godsend." But he, like others, said he is worried there won't be enough money.

"It sounds like a lot, but when you start calculating people with cancer who are now out of their careers, their lost wage claims can add up to millions," he said.

The cancers covered by the new Zadroga 9/11 Act rule  include:

1) Malignant neoplasms of the lip, tongue, salivary

gland, floor of mouth, gum and other mouth, tonsil,

oropharynx, hypopharynx, and other oral cavity and

pharynx

2) Malignant neoplasm of the nasopharynx

3) Malignant neoplasms of the nose, nasal cavity,

middle ear, and accessory sinuses

 4) Malignant neoplasm of the larynx

 5) Malignant neoplasm of the esophagus

 6) Malignant neoplasm of the stomach

 7) Malignant neoplasm of the colon and rectum

 8) Malignant neoplasm of the liver and intrahepatic

bile duct

 9) Malignant neoplasms of the retroperitoneum and

peritoneum, omentum, and mesentery

 10) Malignant neoplasms of the trachea; bronchus and

lung; heart, mediastinum and pleura; and other ldefined

sites in the respiratory system and

intrathoracic organs

 11) Mesothelioma

 12) Malignant neoplasms of the soft tissues (sarcomas)

 13) Malignant neoplasms of the skin (melanoma and nonmelanoma),

including scrotal cancer

 14) Malignant neoplasm of the breast

 15) Malignant neoplasm of the ovary

 16) Malignant neoplasm of the urinary bladder

 17) Malignant neoplasm of the kidney

 18) Malignant neoplasms of renal pelvis, ureter and

other urinary organs

 19) Malignant neoplasms of the eye and orbit

 20)  Malignant neoplasm of the thyroid

 21) Malignant neoplasms of the blood and lymphoid

tissues (including, but not limited to, lymphoma,

leukemia, and myeloma)

 22) Childhood cancers