Last year the Associated Press reported nearly 70 percent of Ground Zero rescue workers have suffered lung ailments and “abnormalities.”

“There should no longer be any doubt about the health effects of the World Trade Center. Our patients are sick,” Dr. Robin Herbert, co-director of the group that investigated the long-term effects from exposure to Ground Zero told the AP last year.

Most of the rescuers wade through physical health problems. Others quietly suffer from depression, anger and post traumatic stress.

John Guilfoil is the editor-in-chief of Blast: Boston's Online Magazine. He can be reached at guilfoil.j@blastmagazine.com.