New York Man, 61, Battling Advanced Bladder Cancer Says Firefighters Saved His Life From Bronx Building Fire; How Is This Group Affected By The Disease?

A massive fire erupted in a neighborhood Bronx apartment building on Sunday, which caused 19 people to lose their lives. In the moment, Brannigan thought he would be one of them. He says that while spending time with his nephew, they noticed smoke starting to fill their building and quickly tried to escape. However, there was large amounts of smoke in the hallways, and Brannigan lost sight of his nephew as they were attempting to run from the sixth floor. While battling the smoke, he collapsed on the ground, but was saved by some of New York’s finest.

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"Next thing I know, the firemen are dragging me into my apartment," Brannigan told The New York Post. "The firemen smashed all the windows and put oxygen on me."

Brannigan is currently battling advanced bladder cancer, and although his life was saved from the fire, his possessions were not. However, Brannigan says that the material objects don’t matter and that he’s fortunate he was able to walk out of the fire with his life. "We won the lottery of life, the big jackpot," Brannigan said. "We lost everything in the fire. We lost everything. [But] we are the richest people in the world because we won the lottery of life today."

Firefighters & Cancer

Firefighters are at an increased risk of health complications due to constant exposure to smoke and carcinogens. This can include cancer, and there has been a significant increase in cancer diagnoses following the 9/11 terrorist attack, where nearly 500,000 people and first responders were exposed to carcinogens.

According to data from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, part of the Centers for Disease Control, firefighters have a 9% increased rate of cancer diagnoses and a 14% increased rate of cancer-related deaths. Additionally, a study the NIOSH conducted in 2010, which involved 30,000 firefighters in Chicago, Philadelphia, and San Francisco who were employed since 1950, found a higher incidence of digestive, oral, respiratory and urinary cancers.

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The likelihood of lung cancer diagnosis or death increased with amount of time spent at fires, and the chance of leukemia death increased with the number of fire runs as well. There was also an increased number of mesothelioma diagnoses, a rare type of cancer in the lungs caused by asbestos exposure.

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"Some lung cancers are from unknown exposure to air pollution, radon, or asbestos," says Dr. Raja Flores, a thoracic surgeon who treats patients with lung cancer at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. "We also see more never-smokers with lung cancer who have a family history of it."

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Asbestos is a known carcinogen. It was widely used in commercial products in the U.S. until the 1970s, when reports linked it to cancers like mesothelioma. It's been in the news more recently because of proposed new regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency that may allow the chemical to be used in manufacturing again, which has many people concerned. Asbestos has been banned in 55 countries around the world because of the health risks it poses. Those include an increased risk for a handful of life-threatening diseases including asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesothelioma.

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