A survivor of the 9/11 attacks and called the “Dust Lady”, Marcy Borders died of stomach cancer at the age of 42. She was photographed covered with dust after the collapse of the Twin Towers.
The Dust Lady
Marcy Borders was 28 when she worked at the Bank of America, on the 81st floor in one of the twin towers of the World Trade Centre when the attacks occurred. When the towers collapsed she had taken refuge in a nearby building, where she was photographed by Stan Honda, who worked for the AFP. The photograph went around the world.
She appeared covered with a thick layer of ashes and dust, which earned her the nickname “Dust Lady”. Shocked by the attack and enveloped in a cloud of dust, the streets tuned an eerie yellow from the dust blocking out the sun.
After that dark day, Borders’ life changed forever and she plunged into a sequence of unemployment, alcoholism, depression and drug abuse, which she finally overcame in 2011.
The trauma of the attacks
Since the attacks, she spent most of her time in a small apartment in New Jersey, close to Manhattan and the location of the attacks, without any psychological or financial help. She said “I always live in fear and almost never leave home. I can’t imagine going back to those places, bridges, tunnels and stations”
Marcy Borders started treatment against cancer a year ago, and put her illness down to the chemical pollutants released during the collapse of the World Trade Centre.