The number of crew working in the Ground Zero premises who are now sick with cancer have increased to more than 2,500 this year from 1,140 last year and are demanding compensation for their illnesses.

The World Trade Center Health Program at Mount Sinai Hospital who monitors 37,000 rescuers invovled in 9/11 recently found 1,655 responders with cancer.

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The responders with cancer include police officers, hard hats, sanitation and community workers, and volunteers.

According to the New York Post, the total of those afflicted with cancer rises when the city's firefighters and EMT's are added with numbers at 2,518, The New York Post reports.

In one case, a retired 63-year-old FDNY captain who worked daily at the Ground Zero site for a week after the terrorist attacks was diagnosed with lung diseases and a type of incurable pancreatic cancer. He was awarded US$1.5 million from the Victim Compensation Fund.  

He told The Post that he hopes similar cases like his would be resolved faster because cancer patients like him are not expected to love longer.

"Somehow I knew that many of us would get sick that day," he told The Post.

He was forced to retire in 2008 when his lungs could not deal with the heat and the smoke from the fires any longer. Later, doctors found a tumor in his chest:

"It would have killed me, if they had tried to take it out," he said.

Instead he was treated with chemotherapy and now weighs only 160 pounds compared to the 240 pound-weight he had before 9/11.

"Luckily I have my grandchildren to keep me going, even if there is not a lot I can do ,"

He also received a victim compensation computed from his lost earning. In addition, he was awarded another US$250.000 for the physical pain that he still suffers.

"Of course I am grateful for the award. I just don't understand why it took two years before I got it," he said.

Studies from the world Trade Center specialist show that the rescuers involved in the 9/11 have a far higher rate of certain types of cancer like prostate, leukemia and multiple myeloma than the population in general.

Tags9/11 rescuers, Cancer, cancer patients, firefighters, World Trade Center Health Program, Mount Sinai Hospital