Father and Son, Both 9/11 Responders, Have Died

They were healthy, with no history of cancer in the family, but within a year of each other, a father and son have died—the 76-year-old dad last year after fighting seven different cancers over 13 years. 

The common link: Both Raymond Alexander and his son, Robert, who died Monday at 43 of brain cancer, were 9/11 first responders, per the Washington Post. The firefighters' deaths make it "the first time, post September 11, 2001, where the 9/11 attacks have claimed the lives of two generations in a single family," notes a statement from the Uniformed Firefighters Association president. 

Raymond, with the FDNY at the time, and Robert, an NYPD officer, both were off on 9/11, but they rushed to the scene and worked in the poisonous debris for days. Raymond's struggle with various forms of cancer began a couple of years later, and Robert was diagnosed with a brain tumor in November 2014.

Read the full story on Newser.com

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