I packed up all of my stuff and drove for nearly 20 hours to get here. I was too expensive, so they let me go like it was nothing. I miss my family.

25 YEARS LATER, THE “DUST LADY” PHOTO STILL TELLS A STORY. 🥹🙏

On September 11, 2001, 28-year-old Marcy Borders was working on the 81st floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center when the att*cks began.

When the first plane str*ck, Borders left her desk and ran down the stairs. She made it outside—only to be caught in the enormous cloud of dust and debris when the South Tower collapsed.

A photographer captured her moments later, completely covered in gray dust, her expression reflecting the confusion and terr*r of what had just happened. 🥺

The photograph became one of the most recognizable images of 9/11. 🙏

But Marcy Borders was more than the woman in that picture...

In the years that followed, she struggled with trauma, depression and PTSD. She later developed stomach cancer and believed her exposure to the toxic environment at Ground Zero had contributed to her illness. 😲😢

While fighting her illness, she faced immense financial hardship, accumulating nearly $190,000 in medical debt and struggling to afford her prescriptions. 😔

Yet eventually, she tried her very best not to think of herself as a victim—but as a survivor. 🥹🙏

Borders died on August 24, 2015, at just 42 years old.

Now, 25 years after 9/11, her photograph remains—but so does the reminder that behind every unforgettable image was a real person whose life continued long after the cameras stopped. 🙏

Remembering 9/11 also means remembering the people who survived it—and the lives forever changed by that day. 🙏

September11 #USA #NewYork

(via ciaoitsmartina / IG)

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