The woman featured in the iconic “Dust Lady” photo, taken as she fled the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, died from cancer at age 42.
Marcy Borders, who was from New Jersey, had been working for a month at Bank of America in the north tower. On Sept. 11 at 8:46 a.m., the 28-year-old was standing next to the photocopier on the 81st floor when a plane smashed into the building a few stories above. Despite a manager’s direction to wait for fire wardens, Borders ran for the stairs and began to make her way down.
As Borders arrived on street level, a second plane hit the south tower. When it collapsed, a cloud of smoke and debris surrounded her.
” Every time I inhaled, my mouth just filled up with it Every time I inhaled, my mouth just filled up with it,” Borders told filmmaker Mike McGregor in 2012.
“I was choking, I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. I was just saying to myself, saying out loud that I didn’t want to die,” she said. “A stranger grabbed me … he took me to safety, and I guess this is where this picture was taken.”
The photograph became a symbol of survival that was beamed around the world.
But that day symbolized anything but survival to Borders herself. Consumed with feelings of grief and fear, she fell into a deep hole of depression and drugs. Eventually, she lost custody of her two children and separated from her long-term partner. In 2011, Borders admitted herself into rehab and got herself clean. After that, she didn’t touch drugs again and made amends with her family.
As things were starting to look up, Borders secured herself a job in 2014 working on a mayoral candidate’s campaign, according to the Jersey Journal. It was then that she was diagnosed with stomach cancer. In August, she began chemotherapy and the prognosis seemed good, but it recently took a bad turn.
On Monday, her cousin John Bordes posted the “Dust Lady” photograph on Facebook, with a message: “My Hero!! She has withstood many obstacles since this infamous day.. She now is barely clinging to life.”
Just 12 hours after she began treatment, various members of Borders’ family announced on Facebook that she had lost her battle with cancer. Her brother Michael wrote: “I can’t believe my sister is gone.”
It is unknown if the events of Sept. 11 were associated with Borders’ cancer, but she entertained the possibility aloud in 2014.
“I’m saying to myself, ‘Did this thing ignite cancer cells in me?'” she asked while talking to the Journal. “I definitely believe it because I haven’t had any illnesses. I don’t have high blood pressure…high cholesterol, diabetes … How do you go from being healthy to waking up the next day with cancer?”
Borders’ life since 9/11 was never the same, and now the woman known globally as “Dust Woman” is finally at peace.