By Chris Biancaniello
“A hero is somebody who understands the responsibility that comes with his own freedom”- Bob Dylan
;)
John FealOn September 12th, 2001 Nesconset resident John Feal answered the call to go to New York City and help with the debris at Ground Zero. The construction worker and veteran found himself working 12-hour shifts to help in whatever way he could.
On September 17th, 2001 a 4-ton steal beam came crashing down on his left foot. What happened next would forever change the course of Feal’s life. He soon learned that part of his foot would have to be amputated.
As if that wasn’t enough to overcome, the incident wouldn’t be covered by the victim relief fund provided by Congress because it happened more than 96 hours after September 11, the cut off for eligibility. John Feal was a day late according to those rules.
The next five years of his life would include multiple surgeries, bills piling up and post traumatic stress disorder. Feal decided to fight back and took his case to the courts where he would eventually win his lawsuit. “If you think you’re right, fight till the end. I fought, I got my own benefits- I don’t think I’ve won, I think I got what I deserved.” Feal means every word of what he says and doesn’t waste time getting to the point.
I think it is safe to say that most people would have stopped there, but John Feal is not most people. In 2005 he created the “FealGood Foundation”, a foundation whose mission is to assist anyone directly affected by 9/11. Feal took it personally when he was denied his benefits. He had nothing to prove, but having been hurt and being forced to deal with the bureaucracy before getting what he needed, gave him the opportunity to fully understand what responders had to deal with to get what they needed.
It wouldn’t be long before he would be roaming the halls of Congress, tracking down congressmen and women, lobbying for the Zadroga Bill. This bill provides 9/11 first responders with health benefits for anything they may have acquired while working on site.
Some say the FealGood Foundation “re-wrote the book on lobbying”. Feal took Congress by storm, he threatened to park busses outside the airport to prevent congress from leaving (it was around Christmas time). He brought victims with oxygen tanks and wheel chairs and well-spoken knowledgeable first responders with him to get his point across- he wasn’t going to stop until the deal was done.
Feal held strong in the presence of America’s most intimidating elected officials, and working with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), he was instrumental in getting 4.3 billion dollars in Federal Aid to 9/11 first responders. Dozens of cancers and other diseases have been recognized as having been caused by 9/11. If you ask Feal about the Zadroga bill, he’ll say he got too much credit and the attention he received was only because he was still there in the eleventh hour.
;)
Glenn Klein and John FealEven still, he’s not nearly done yet. Joined by the FealGood Foundation’s vice president, a 20 year retired NYPD veteran Glenn Klein, the two explained there was still much more to be done. Klein was a member of the Emergency Services Unit, a unit responsible for everything from SWAT to scuba and he was there when the second tower collapsed. He lost 14 members of his unit.
Klein, like Feal suffers from post traumatic stress disorder, and has had his fair share of troubles since 9/11 including having cancerous polyps removed from his colon. The FealGood Foundation helped him fight for his Social Security Disability benefits.
For Feal and Klein, “everyday is 9/11”. They’re still in fact fighting battles that were caused by it, and they’re fighting those battles every single day. In the past week alone they attended 2 funerals, marking what Feal guesses is about their 65th funeral since 2001.“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t worry that I’m going to be next,” says Klein.
What angers them the most is the lack of response and bureaucratic nightmares that prevented things from getting done to help families. “Since 9/11 thousands have gotten sick and 1,300 have passed away. You could be working at Home Depot, have a box fall on your head, and get workman’s comp faster than a 9/11 first responder who came to the aid of this country and is basically a hero.” Feal doesn’t blame people for forgetting this fact. He understands the need to get on with everyday life, but he knows his battle isn’t over. In fact, if you ask him, he’ll tell you that he is only at the 30 yard line with 70 left to go.
;)
Both Klein and Feal have grown anything but complacent. They recently decided to help get involved with Sandy relief efforts and have been responsible for helping a number of families return to normalcy. The foundation is also raising funds for Nesconset’s 9/11 Memorial Park which lists the names of first-responders who have passed due to 9/11 related illnesses.
Feal’s mission doesn’t have a clear ending and perhaps many people should be thankful for that fact. In 2007 Feal donated a kidney to a complete stranger. Feal says that “when I die, I don’t want my name to be on the tombstone, or the year I was born, or the year I died. I just want it to say ‘he tried’ and let everybody else figure out who’s buried there.”