The fight behind the 9/11 vow to ‘Never Forget'

Twenty-five years after September 11, America knows how to remember the day. We know where we stood when the planes hit, how firefighters climbed the towers, how passengers fought back aboard Flight 93, and how a grieving nation came together afterward. John Feal at Ground Zero (Photo courtesy of John Feal) John Feal's I'll Follow You Anywhere tells the story we've been far less willing to remember. It begins after the television cameras left, after the flags came down and after America promised to 'Never Forget.' A construction supervisor from Long Island, Feal spent six days working atop the smoking pile at Ground Zero before an 8,000-pound steel beam crushed his foot, ultimately costing him half of it. During his recovery, he began hearing from fellow responders and other survivors who were developing respiratory diseases, cancers, gastrointestinal disorders and post-traumatic stress while exhausting their savings trying to prove those illnesses were connected to September 11. Feal could have focused on rebuilding his own life. Instead, he spent the next 25 years fighting for theirs. That decision changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people he never would meet. I'll Follow You Anywhere is not simply the memoir of one outspoken activist. Through Feal's own story, the memoir chronicles a political battle over whether those still suffering from 9/11 deserved health care. Feal reconstructs the decades-long fight to establish and preserve the World Trade Center Health Program and the Victim Compensation Fund. Year after year, Feal battled lawmakers on the same arguments: Allegations that people were submitting fake claims despite the lack of proof, claims that the health crisis was merely 'New York's problem' even as victims were identified in every state and Puerto Rico, and repeated challenges to the science despite mounting evidence — and mounting deaths. John Feal leads a group of 9/11 advocates through the halls of Congress. (Photo courtesy of John Feal) Along the way, he praises lawmakers who stood beside the 9/11 community while refusing to spare those he believes repeatedly stood in its way. Among the lawmakers Feal criticizes most often are Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul. Their names recur throughout the memoir as symbols of a political resistance, forcing Feal to reach a blunt conclusion: 'The party that publicly aligned itself with troops and cops and first responders and the legacy of 9/11 and was the most loudly patriotic was also the party doing the most to stand in the way of our health care.' Feal writes exactly as he speaks — often funny, and occasionally profane. But his words demand respect, since they were forged beside hospital beds, at funerals and in the halls of Congress. One of the memoir's most moving moments comes when dying NYPD detective and Marine veteran Lou Alvarez postpones his 69th round of chemotherapy to testify before Congress. Asked about his final wishes, Alvarez doesn't ask for recognition or accolades. He says he wants to be buried in a military cemetery because every headstone is the same: 'I want my kids to see that there's no greater honor than to be treated with the same respect and dignity as the person to your left and to your right.' For Christians, who believe every person is made in the image of God, that conviction should resonate deeply. Scripture repeatedly calls us to care for the sick, defend the vulnerable and bear one another's burdens. Only then did I understand that John Feal had been living out those verses for 25 years for people like me. John Feal with other 9/11 responders (Photo courtesy of John Feal) In 2025, I was diagnosed with uterine cancer that was certified as related to my exposure to the World Trade Center disaster. Like thousands of responders, residents, office workers, students and others exposed to the toxic dust, I became part of the continuing legacy of September 11. The medical care available to me today exists because people like John Feal refused to let the country move on while survivors were still getting sick. Now, Feal believes that hard-won promise is again at risk, since the Trump administration has repeatedly moved since January 2025 to undermine the funds. The Epilogue in his book serves as both a warning and a vow: I will not let this administration undo what thousands of people have given their lives for. You will not destroy a program and those it serves with your nonsensical rhetoric and reckless actions. While you have clearly shown those who wish to destroy this country that you have forgotten about the sacrifices the 9/11 community has made since September 11, 2001, I will show those same people that there are people with spines who will stand up for each other in need and in an instant. … We will put this program back where it was and continue to move forward. This year's 25th anniversary of September 11 will, for the first time, include a seventh bell honoring those who died from illnesses linked to the toxic dust that followed. It is a powerful acknowledgment that 9/11 didn't end on 9/11. Neither does John Feal's story. Many books help us remember that terrible morning. I'll Follow You Anywhere reminds us what came after, when 'Never Forget' became something Congress had to decide whether lives were worth the cost. That's why this may be the most important 9/11 book you'll read this year. Christina Ray Stanton Christina Ray Stanton wrote an award-winning book about surviving the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Out of the Shadow of 9-11: An Inspiring Tale of Escape and Transformation. Her faith articles have appeared in numerous publications all over the world. She also is the author of Faith in the Face of COVID-19: A Survivor's Tale . Related: On the anniversary of 9/11: Terrorism, heroism and the unholy myth of redemptive violence | Opinion by Chris Conley The long, dry line from 9-11 to Jan. 6 | Opinion by Andrew Manis I was there on 9/11 | Analysis by Mara Richards Bim