“It was the worst thing to happen to me in my life.”
Ann Margulis is describing that day, 20 years ago, when two hijacked planes hit the twin towers of the World Trade Center.
With virtually floor-to-ceiling windows in her yoga studio in Lower Manhattan, she had a horrifying, cinematic view of the events that unfolded.
"I can’t even explain what it was like. Just, the smoke and the fire … and then, of course, a huge explosion and smoke," she says.
"It was unbelievable; almost turning day into night."
Speaking from her home in New South Wales' Blue Mountains, Ann can recall the events of 11 September 2001 like it was yesterday.
Smoke rising from the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Source: AP/Richard Drew/AAP
But as she was living it, it had an extreme impact on her.
"My whole body went into shock…. and it was traumatised," she says.
"They had to admit me into hospital."
Toxic dust
Then aged in her late 40s, Ann had been enjoying life in New York, running a successful high-end catering business.
"Hard work but great fun," she says.
But in the months following the attack, feelings of depression and agoraphobia took hold as she and her American husband Les resumed their lives in an apartment opposite the New York Stock Exchange.
“Three army tanks moved in, closed off the street, and stayed," she says.
Ann and her American husband Les later left New York. Source: Supplied/Ann Margulis
"Every time you walked out the door you'd see those tanks. Okay, they were there to protect us, but it was frightening."
Plus, there was the dust that remained.
"I felt like I was in a war zone initially, with all the ash and smoke and tanks and army personnel."
New York firefighters make their way through the rubble. Source: AP/Shawn Baldwin/AAP
Feeling unsafe, Ann and Les returned to Australia after 15 months, but Ann's struggles were only just beginning.
Cancer diagnosis
In 2005, Ann was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, then stomach cancer in 2009.
At that point, she made the connection to the toxic dust that had blanketed New York following 9/11.
“We were evacuated for five days, and then were told the air was fine," she recalls.
"The EPA [US Environmental Protection Agency] said, 'It's fine, you can go back.'"
"It wasn’t fine. There was polarised cements, asbestos, the jet fuel. They say there were around 2,500 different toxins in the air, some more toxic than others."
The couple recruited Michael Barasch, the New York lawyer who had successfully fought for the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund to cover those with ongoing respiratory illnesses, not just those who had died on the day.
His firm Barasch and McGarry has secured awards ranging from hundreds of thousands of dollars, to those in the millions.
The US Government confirmed the toxins were a contributing factor to the thyroid cancer and later the stomach cancer too, Ann said.
After six years, she received an undisclosed settlement.
More than 43,000 people have been certified as having a 9/11 related health condition by the World Trade Center Health Program, more than 9,000 of which are a type of cancer.
The 9/11 memorial in New York. Source: EPA/JUSTIN LANE/AAP
“Personally, I’m ok about my compensation," Ann says.
"But it’s a long process, even now, six years, that's a long time to be going through everything over again.”
As of last year, Ann's thyroid cancer is in remission, while she says her stomach cancer is manageable.
But the memories will be with her forever.
“The big thing is living with the trauma,” she says.
“You know, thinking about the families and the people who died, and those who were injured, and people like me.”
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