forever. of the nearly 3,000 people killed on 9/11, more than 2,700 died at the world trade center site in new york city. i have a story to tell you about the dedication of the men and women came to inspire all of us in the days and years since. the police officers and firefighters were clearing debris and doing whatever they could to help find survivors. they didn't know it at the time, but they were putting their own lives at risk. many of them are sick and asking if more could have been done to prevent it. >> the trade centers have been hit by airplanes. in washington, there is a large fire at the pentagon. >> the whole building came down. >> move it. get out of here! >> back! back! >> get out of here! >> the president was in florida today. >> within moments after the first tower disintegrated, an eerie silence fell over lower manhattan. >> there should be a sound when one of the largest skyscrapers in the world collapses. we know that there must have been a sound. very few people, including myself, remember a sound. >> dr. david prezant, the top doctor with the new york city fire department rushed to ground zero to help. he was there when the first tower fell. >> we are talking about mid-morning. 10:00 or so. it was a very sunny day that morning. it was like it was a little bit darker and dusk. you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. you were suffocating on large particles that were stuck in the back of your throat and nose. then, there was this fine dust that you were constantly choking on. >> in the city, they called the firefighters new york's bravest. and for more than 20 years, marty fullam was one of them. on september 11th, most were running from ground zero, but he was running toward the fires. the tragedy and all that dust. >> what is it like for you? >> to walk? >> yes. >> i'm getting a little winded, but okay. >> if you didn't have oxygen? >> i would be in bed now. >> four years after working at ground zero, he became gravely ill. >> you got sick. >> yes, sir. >> now some doctors have said this could have been due to inhaling the particles down at ground zero? >> yes. at first i was surprised. it was 9/11? it is four years later. they have said this is 9/11. >> he had the world trade center cough initially. >> initially. >> that is a term you coined. >> yes. >> people think cough and think how bad could a cough be? >> we shouldn't have called it world trade center cough. we should have called it world trade center lung disease. it has a greater definition to it. >> because coughs -- well, they typically go away. for many firefighters, the cough persist persisted. it got worse. what would take its place was an inability to breathe. dr. prezant watched the tragedy evolve. >> their lung capacity decreased 30%. in the first six months after 9/11, on average, they dropped 370 milliliters. 12 times what they, themselves, were decreasing just due to aging. that is unheard of. >> marty? >> marty was over 1,200 milliliters. >> 40 times. >> prezant knew the dust was affecting marty's lungs. his immune system was attacking his muscles. 65-pound weight loss in three weeks? >> i couldn't walk. i wouldn't breathe. >> if there is any good news out of all of this, it is everything we tested for, which includes asbestos and lead and vocs have been below the concern for the public health. obviously for those who are down here, this is very important. >> in september of 2001, there were reassurances, but the testing required to make any statement about air quality had not been completed. so could anyone really say the air was truly safe? >> september 18th, the epa commissioner waved the all clear sign. was that appropriate? >> no, it was not. it definitely was not. she did not have enough information to make that statement. >> anthony depalma covered 9/11 for the "new york times." >> if you watched the video from that day, you saw that thunder cloud of dust come around the building like a science fiction monster. the government was telling and continuing to tell them it was safe. they were desperate for some kind of answer. >> the former epa commissioner said an answers were given. weeks following the attacks, epa officials warned of the risks at ground zero and noted the difference at the air quality at the site and the air in the rest of new york city. we shouldn't seek a scapegoat. so what was it that made marty fullam sick along with so many other first responders? 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>> three for four days after that. they had the paper ones they were giving out. >> the problem is there is no seal on the masks. dust can center from here and here and from the paper itself. i better option for marty and the other responders would have been a respirator like this. a lot who had access to the respirators said they were hot and uncomfortable. >> were you ever offered a proper mask that would have protected you? >> much later on. a month and a half later. >> you were the frontline? >> yes. >> it took six weeks to get you a mask? >> yes. >> to give yourself the best chance at life? >> yes. i wish i would have had it. >> but here's where it gets complicated. for several days after 9/11, respirators for firefighters were located at a staging area off site. nine miles from ground zero. marty's brother david got his respirator on the way to ground zero. marty's went straight to the pile. for marty fullam, nearly every breath is now a struggle. >> my body craves the extra oxygen. it is like somebody is >> that feeling of slow suffocation, started four years after marty's work at ground zero. >> spring of 2005, i failed a stress test. the technique giving me the test told me that my lungs weren't producing enough oxygen and i never had anybody tell me that before. i started to get weaker every day and sleep more and more every night. muscle pain and difficulty breathing. >> you never had anything like this. >> no. >> where was it coming from? >> i didn't know. >> reporter: but now we do know. something was eating away at his muscles and that sail thing was also eating away at his lungs. all of it, his doctors believe, caused by dust. >> body's immune system is literally attacking its own normal tissue. >> that's why we call this an autoimmune disease. >> how would breathing in december cause an autoimmune problem? >> the chemicals coating that dust and in the gases released that day causes inflammation. and some of us, most of us, that inflammation occurs for a while and goes away. in other people, for reasons we don't know, the inflammation continues. >> and this is martin fullam's chest x-ray. >> reporter: this is one of the doctors carrying for marty. >> normal people breathe about ten breaths per minute when they're at rest. in marty the lungs are much smaller, so he has to breathe, 20, 30, 40 times a minute and each time he has to stretch a very stiff fi brotsic, scarred lung. >> squeeze my hand tight. >> reporter: by 2009, marty had been diagnosed with pulmonary i fibrosis and an autoimmune disease. >> before 9/11 we were tracking our firefighters and we did not have a single case of poly my owe sigh tis. since 9/11, including marty, we have about five cases. five cases, you would say, is a small number. but five cases compared to zero, compared to a population of middle-aged men you would expect none in, five cases is a lot. >> reporter: something stirred up a full-on revolt in marty's body and he was dying. the only option doctors had to offer, a lung transplant. >> marty was on constant oxygen. he couldn't go to the bathroom without it it turning up his oxygen because he couldn't -- wouldn't be able to make it from his bed to his bathroom. that's how short of breath he was. marty got a lung transplant and that changed his life. >> did the lung transplant make you feel better? >> yes, it did. initially it did. >> what was different? >> i could breathe without supplemental oxygen initially. >> there's a picture of you, i think, surrounded by family and a bunch of firefighters, everyone looks pretty elated. do you remember that picture is this. >> yes. >> how were you feeling. >> i felt good. i was going home. >> reporter: that feeling of being home, of breathing easy, would be short lived. the worst possible outcome in just a few months time, marty's body began rejecting his new lung. an ingredient that works more naturally with your colon than stimulant laxatives, for effective relief of constipation without cramps. thanks. 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[ crunching, sipping ] be happy. be healthy. can i try yours? marty fullam is getting ready for his second lung transplant. >> how are you feeling today. >> doing well today. >> since his lungs were damaged at ground zero ten years ago, that includes therapy. a regiment of pills. >> it's about 40 pills a day. >> and undergoing painful treatments. but despite all that effort, marty's lungs are slowly failing him. >> how sick is marty? >> marty is as sick as can be. marty is still alive because of his ability to per ser veev. >> reporter: but that may not be enough to help him breathe again. just recently he found out whether he will get the transplant that could save his life. >> i was being considered to be listed again for a second transplant, and then a month ago, they told me no, i wouldn't be considered. >> with columbia not wanting to do the second lung transplant because of your inflammatory lung disease. >> reporter: a new lung was his only option. his only hope. >> breathe in and out. >> reporter: without a transplant, marty has one, maybe two years. >> at some point i will get sick from the hospital being on a respirator and that will be it, which isn't what i wanted to hear. >> i love you. >> i love you too, daddy. >> give me a kiss. >> you have three daughters? >> yes. >> i realize i'm not going to get old with them. very unlikely that i'll live to older age, but right now, i have my time with them which is good. >> reporter: and marty says he won't stop fighting, petitioning other hospitals to get that transplant. >> five and a half years ago they told me i had two years to live and here it is five and a half years later, i'm still alive. i must be doing something right. >> reporter: it is the enduring symbol of 9/11. dust. >> that is kind of a metaphor for the problems that came u
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