Feb 22, 2021
It’s an image no one will ever erase from their memory. The sight of a gaunt, ashen, and painfully frail NYPD Bomb Squad Detective Lou Alvarez, by his side, a furious Jon Stewart at a mostly empty House Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on a bill to make The Victim Compensation fund, which helps first responders made ill by the 9/11 dust permanent. Now, 19 years after the attacks, EVERY 9/11 first responder knows it’s not a question of whether they will get ill, but when. Despite 69 chemotherapy treatments and numerous surgeries for his liver cancer, retired Detective Alvarez traveled from New York City to Washington one last time to try to convince Congress to never forget those heroes who joined the 9/11 rescue and recovery, some working 8 months at Ground Zero. Retired Suffolk County police officer Phil Alvarez, Lou’s older brother, joined Lou on many of these lobbying trips, including his last. The Congressional chamber was filled with ailing 9/11 first