After Bypass Surgery, 9/11 Responder Recalls Months On The Pile

NEW CITY, NY — Kelly Chambers considers himself lucky to be alive for the 20th anniversary of 9/11.

Contemplating the seven months he spent "on the pile" at the bottom of Manhattan from 2001-02, he feels a connection between that work 20 years ago and the triple-bypass surgery he had this spring at Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern.

Chambers was one of the Verizon workers who spent months working at ground zero to restore phone service destroyed by the terrorist attack of Sept. 11. Firefighters, police, the New York City Office of Emergency Management and the Secret Service needed phone service desperately, as did the New York Stock Exchange and all the businesses and residents around the fallen towers.

Afterward, Chambers became part of the World Trade Center Health Program and the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund due to scarring on his lungs.

The World Trade Center Health Program is part of a limited federal initiative for those directly affected by the 9/11 attacks. That includes "medical monitoring and treatment for emergency responders, recovery and cleanup workers, and volunteers who helped at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the crash site near Shanksville, Pennsylvania" between Sept. 11, 2001, and July 31, 2002.

According to the program, more than 400,000 responders and survivors "were exposed to toxic contaminants, risks of traumatic injury, and physically and emotionally stressful conditions in the days, weeks and months following the attacks."

The current WTC Health Program launched in July 2011, replacing two earlier 9/11-related health programs.

Because of that scarring, when the simple task of taking out the recycling one day this past February left him too breathless to move, Chambers called his pulmonologist.

"I just assumed it was my lungs," he told Patch.

But Dr. Brijender Batra noted that Chambers hadn't had a CT scan since 2016, and sent him for another. Chambers described him as "a very mild-mannered man", which made it all the more alarming when Batra said, "I hate to tell you it's not your lungs" and then pulled out his phone and called Chambers' cardiologist right there and then.

In May, doctors at Good Samaritan Hospital's newly opened Cardiac Catherization Laboratory found blockages of his heart, and a week later he was back at 'Good Sam' for triple bypass graft surgery. He was home in just four days and returned to work by the end of July.

"It was like a whirlwind. My head was spinning," he said.

Looking back, Chambers characterized it as a quick and easy process.

"Sometimes the outcome can be better at smaller places like Good Samaritan," his cardiac surgeon, Dr. Cary Passik, told Patch. "You get high-quality work and patients get the benefit of the same team every day."

Passik praised Chambers’ doctor for noticing calcification of the coronary arteries from a CT scan. It's often missed, he said. His mom, Chambers said, was so grateful to Dr. Batra that she sent him a basket of goodies from Stew Leonard's. For his part, the father of three is grateful for the support of his wife and kids.

Even though it's not certain if the heart problems are directly linked to his time at ground zero, he's also grateful for two decades of thoughtful medical care.

And while he's not one to talk about his feelings, he said, he appreciated the emotional support offered to him and his family at Good Samaritan.

The 9/11 responders program has also offered a lot of support, including social workers and psychologists — which was good, because in seven months you see a lot of things, he said.

"Everybody has horror stories from being down there but we all were single-minded. We had to get the job done."

It was made easier by being with a whole group of colleagues — a few of whom he is still in contact with today. "Their experience was similar," he said.

"We would be going down the West Side Highway, we’d see people holding up signs saying 'hero.' I thought to myself, the firefighters, the cops, they were the heroes. Those guys working on the pile looking for their brothers. We were just doing what we could."

He recalled the restaurateurs who drove up in a Winnebago and gave away gumbo, and the Texan with a guitar slung on his back who came and sang every day. "I can’t explain why they were there, but they were doing the best they could for people."

People were working tirelessly, he said. "It didn’t matter race, ethnicity, political views — everyone was focused on the task."

For a list of 9/11 victims from Rockland County, click here.