In a moment that’s now frozen in time, Marcy Borders, known as the “Dust Lady,” is seen in a chilling image after barely escaping the carnage of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Surviving the unconscionable horrors of the day that’s forever seared in all our hearts and minds, Borders escaped from her 81st-floor office in the North Tower just moments before the World Trade Center collapsed.
Paralyzed with shock, the woman–covered from head to toe in ash and toxic debris–was captured in a photo that became a haunting reminder of the 9/11 tragedy.
Though the woman fled the towers, she was unable to escape the terror and then the cancer, that took her life. Years later, her daughter said that “the dust has settled.”
After the 9/11 terrorist attacks destroyed New York City’s Twin Towers, the world was completely shaken by the heartbreaking stories and photos that were shared.
Among them was the iconic image, the “Dust Lady,” a then 28-year-old Bank of America employee, Marcy Borders, whose expression demonstrates the horrific human impact of the attacks.
Borders had just started working with the company as a legal assistant and arrived early that day to get a head start.
It was at 8:46 a.m. when Borders, of New Jersey, and her colleagues on the 81st floor felt the rumble of the building.
At the time, they were all unaware that an airplane, hijacked by al Qaeda, intentionally struck the North Tower between the 93rd and 99th floors, just 12 stories above where Borders was sitting.
Minutes later, a second plane slammed the South Tower and both 110-storey skyscrapers collapsed.
“My supervisor thought a small jet plane might have nipped us. We had no idea what was going on. I began to panic. They tried to calm me down, told me to relax, take deep breaths, but the way the building was shaking, I couldn’t sit there,” Borders related to a New Jersey paper in 2014 (through the Guardian). “You felt the building shaking, you heard the explosion, you saw chairs coming out the windows, office supplies, what I know now were people.”
Panicked, she ignored a boss’ order to stay at her desk and joined the exodus of people who were trying to escape down the main staircase of the tower.
She explained that she passed many injured people, some with shards of glass and metal stuck in their flesh, others with burnt skulls.
While employees of the building were running down, firefighters were running up, shouting, “Run, and don’t look back!”
In the hour she spent trying to reach the ground of the building, the South Tower had been attacked. By the time she reached the exit, she emerged into a dust cloud so large that it was seen by station astronaut, Frank Culbertson, on the International Space Station.
She tried to outrun the dark cloud.
“I took chase from this cloud of dust and smoke that was following me,” Borders said. “Once it caught me it threw me on my hands and knees. Every time I inhaled my mouth filled up with it, I was choking. I was saying to myself out loud, I didn’t want to die, I didn’t want to die.”
Cloaked by darkness and toxic debris, Borders was unable to see even her hands in front of her face and was helpless.
A stranger then pulled her to safety into the lobby of a nearby building where Stan Honda, a freelance photographer working for AFP, was also sheltering.
He recalled that “this woman came in completely covered in dust. It was a strange sight. She paused for a second, and I took one photo. It was just that one frame–I really only had time for that shot, then somebody took her upstairs and she was gone.”
The photo, of the then unknown “Dust Lady,” was published in newspapers and magazines across the world.
Then AFP received a phone call, identifying the “Dust Lady” as Marcy Borders.
The 9/11 terrorist attacks killed 2,977 people and caused an estimated 25,000 injuries. Others, like Borders, survived but suffered irreparable physical and mental harm.
Speaking with the New York Post, Borders said “It was like my soul was knocked down with those towers. My life spiraled out of control. I didn’t do a day’s work in nearly 10 years, and by 2011 I was a complete mess. Every time I saw an aircraft, I panicked. If I saw a man on a building, I was convinced he was going to shoot me.”
The pain and memories of that terrifying day became too hard to handle, and she turned to drugs, like crack cocaine, to numb the sadness.
Borders admitted it was “because I didn’t want to live.”
Hitting “rock bottom” Borders entered rehab in 2011, and not only did she get sober, but she was given a gift.
On May 1, 2011, Osama bin Laden, the evil architect behind the 9/11 attacks, was killed.
“[God] got rid of my biggest fear,” said Borders, then 38, who learned in rehab that Navy SEALs terminated bin Laden. “I used to lose sleep over him, have bad dreams about bin Laden bombing my house, but now I have peace of mind.”
Rebuilding her life in recovery after her May 20th exit from rehab, Borders moved back with her partner, Donald Edwards, and regained custody of her daughter Noelle (then 18), and son Zay-den (then three).
In 2014, Borders told the Jersey Journal, that after a decade-long depression that drove her substance abuse, she was just getting back into the working world when she was diagnosed with stomach cancer.
At the time, she wondered if her cancer was related to 9/11.
“I’m saying to myself ‘Did this thing ignite cancer cells in me?’ I definitely believe it because I haven’t had any illnesses. I don’t have high blood pressure…high cholesterol, diabetes,” she said.
Saddled with $190,000 in medical debt from rounds of chemotherapy, Borders was forced to wait until December for surgery, which would be followed by radiation therapy.
Marcy Borders died at 42 on August 24, 2015.
When she was once asked if she looked at the “Dust Lady” photo, she said, “I try to take myself from being a victim to a survivor now. I don’t want to be a victim anymore.”
To the world, Borders is immortalized as the 9/11 “Dust Lady,” and to her family and friends, she’s more of a hero than a victim.
“Not only is she the Dust Lady, but she is my hero. And the dust has settled, and she is free now,” said her daughter Noelle.
It’s hard to believe that 9/11 was so many years ago. We’re sure if you asked anyone, they would know exactly what they were doing at the moment of the attacks. It’s deeply engrained and we will never forget.
Our heart goes out to all the victims, survivors and loved ones of 9/11 and we hope the killing of bin Laden brought some peace.
As for Marcy Borders, what her daughter said about the dust settling is beautiful and we hope the woman is free of pain.
If you found this story moving, you should read about the chilling story behind the famous 9/11 photo of a doomed fire truck heading toward the Twin Towers.
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