This weekend marks 25 years since the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks, which claimed around 3,000 lives in New York City after four hijacked planes were used in coordinated attacks, two of which brought down the World Trade Center's Twin Towers. Among the day's most enduring images is a photograph of Marcy Borders, a survivor who became known around the world as the "Dust Lady."
Escaping the North Tower
Borders, a mother of two from New Jersey, was a month into a new job as a legal assistant with Bank of America on the 81st floor of the North Tower when the first plane struck. She later told The Independent she had been tidying her desk to start the day when it happened. Told by her supervisor to stay put until emergency services arrived, she chose to leave instead, a decision she credited with saving her life.
She described a chaotic escape down a damaged stairwell crowded with hundreds of people, recalling scenes of injured and bleeding people around her as she made her way down, believing at several points that she might not survive. Once outside, she described debris falling everywhere around her, the moment captured by AFP photographer Stan Honda in the image that would later define her.
According to the BBC, Borders had no idea the photo existed until her mother saw it the following day and reached out to Honda directly.
Life after the attacks
In the years that followed, Borders experienced depression and addiction, and lost custody of her two children. Speaking to the New York Post in 2011, she described feeling as though her soul had been knocked down along with the towers, saying she didn't work for nearly a decade and developed severe anxiety around aircraft and unfamiliar men on buildings. She said she turned to smoking crack cocaine during that period, saying she no longer wanted to live.
Borders entered rehab in 2011, overcame her addiction, and regained custody of her children.
Her cancer diagnosis and death
In August 2014, Borders was diagnosed with stomach cancer, which she believed was connected to dust she inhaled during the attacks, given she had no prior history of illness. She died on 24 August 2015, aged 42, following a year-long battle with the disease. Her daughter, Noelle, later told the New York Post that her mother would always be remembered as more than the "Dust Lady," describing her as her hero.
The wider health toll of 9/11
Borders' story reflects a broader, ongoing health crisis linked to the attacks. According to the World Trade Center Health Program, more than 9,000 people have died from illnesses connected to the attacks and their aftermath, including 600 firefighters, a toll that now exceeds the number of people killed on the day itself.
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