9/11 first responder who testified with Jon Stewart enters hospice
Source: CBS News
9/11 first responder who testified with Jon Stewart enters hospice
JUNE 20, 2019 / 6:47 AM / CBS NEWS
New York -- Lou Alvarez, a retired New York Police Department detective who testified in an emotional congressional hearing last week about reauthorizing the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, has entered hospice care due to the incurable nature of his cancer, CBS New York reports.
"I'm still here and still fighting," Alvarez said in a Facebook post Wednesday.
The fund was established nine years ago to provide health care benefits to first responders and others in the community with illnesses related to the 2001 terror attacks, but is running short of money.
In emotional testimony before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, comedian Jon Stewart at times broke down in tears, shouting at the lawmakers and calling them "shameful" as he implored them to re-up the fund.
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Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jon-stewart-hearing-911-first-responder-lou-alvarez-testified-enters-hospice/
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Source: Washington Post
He sat next to Jon Stewart to fight for the 9/11 victims fund. Now he’s in hospice.
By Michael Brice-Saddler June 20 at 7:30 PM
In what he indicated was his final interview, Luis Alvarez’s message was simple: It’s time for the government to make things right.
The retired New York Police Department detective and Ground Zero responder implored members of Congress last week to reauthorize funding for people injured or sickened as a result of the 9/11 attacks. His heart-wrenching testimony drew national attention, one day before what would have been his 69th chemotherapy session to treat Stage 4 cancer. He was diagnosed 16 years after he rushed to Ground Zero after the twin towers collapsed.
But on Wednesday, Alvarez shared heartbreaking news. A nurse noticed he was disoriented before his chemotherapy, and testing revealed his liver had completely shut down. The prognosis was bleak — doctors said there was nothing more they could do, and Alvarez now rests in hospice care.
“I will continue to fight until the Good Lord decides it’s time,” Alvarez wrote on Facebook.
Speaking with Fox News’s Shepard Smith on Thursday, Alvarez fought once more. He again called on lawmakers to pass the compensation bill “quickly and efficiently” so victims are never forced to lobby again. Many others who responded to the attacks are at risk of falling ill, he said, even if they believe enough time has passed.
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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/06/20/he-sat-next-jon-stewart-fight-victims-fund-now-hes-hospice/
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