Fernie woman faces 9/11’s fallout, 25 years later

Fernie woman faces 9/11’s fallout, 25 years later

Published 2:08 pm Wednesday, September 16, 2026

Thousands of people lost their lives in the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Centre 25 years ago, but the long-term impacts to people who experienced it are still being uncovered.

Patti Sonntag was a student studying at university in New York on Sept. 11, 2001 when she volunteered to help the medical team and emergency services deliver aid at Ground Zero. More than two decades later, she has been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called retroperitoneal liposarcoma, linked to toxic dust at the site of the World Trade Centre collapse.

Sonntag, originally from Fernie, is a living casualty of 9/11 — proof of the far-reaching impact this world-changing event continues to have on people who were at the scene that day.

She was officially diagnosed with cancer in December. Retroperitoneal liposarcoma is a rare slow-growing form of cancer and the World Trade Centre Health Program has certified that her cancer is related to 9/11.

Sonntag said the first identifiable symptoms of cancer started in 2011, which marked the beginning of her long and difficult journey to get diagnosed. For 15 years, she suffered from mysterious symptoms including difficulty sleeping and eating, and chronic pain.

“The best doctors in New York did not find this cancer,” she said.

After her diagnosis, she underwent an invasive surgery called a compartmentectomy, where surgeons removed a tumour that stretched from her pelvis to her navel. The cancer had spread to a few internal organs, as well as the left psoas muscle and other tissues.

As she lay recovering from the surgery in her hospital bed, she had time to reflect on the World Trade Centre attack.

Sonntag arrived at the scene on the morning of the attack, fighting her way there among a tide of people evacuating lower Manhattan. Police officers directed her to Chelsea Piers, where a temporary hospital had been set up. She was tasked with taking notes and she improvised a notebook out of a file folder cover and some medical forms from an ambulance.

“There was just a sea of scrubs. It felt like every health worker in New York was at Chelsea Piers,” Sonntag recalled.

“It was announced that there were waves of people coming, so people were standing beside the surgery beds just waiting to go,” she added.

Prior to moving to New York, Sonntag worked as a tree planter and supported local wildfire efforts. It was familiarity with emergency response and her advanced first aid training that motivated her to help the 9/11 response teams.

“I think Fernie raised me to think of others, to help out a neighbour, and I think that’s incredibly valuable,” she said.

She accompanied a group of people who were headed to a field hospital set up in Liberty Plaza beside Ground Zero. She said they made part of the journey in an ambulance, but ended up having to walk in when the ground became too unstable for the ambulance to pass through.

“It was like a snowscape, and there was almost no light. It was really grey. The air was beyond terrible … It scraped your lungs. It scraped your skin,” she recalled.

“Ground Zero was quiet. I don’t remember seeing anyone in the middle of it at that time,” she added. “I didn’t understand or comprehend how we could remove the rubble. It just seemed impossible because it was so dangerous and sharp.”

The doctors and medical teams had become concerned. Sonntag said they were told to expect a flood of people evacuating the building, but the hospital beds lay empty.

“There was shouting. They were demanding to know where their patients were. They wanted to help,” Sonntag recalled.

“They’re really excellent people,” she added. “These were the people who dropped what they were doing and ended up at Ground Zero on the first day. It’s their nature to help others.”

The gravity of the situation dawned on Sonntag when she saw a firefighter crying as he was getting treated.

“If there had been a shred of hope, he would have been out there helping,” she said. “When I saw him crying, that’s when I knew all the people were dead, that there was very little hope at all.”

After Sonntag left the scene that night, she wrote an article about what she witnessed and it was published by The Globe and Mail. This was the beginning of her journalism career.

Sonntag is an investigative journalist whose stories have transformed legislation across Canada. She has earned more than 30 honours throughout her career and is the founder of the Institute For Investigative Journalism. Her work has appeared in publications like Toronto Star, National Post, The Globe and Mail, The New York Times, and Le Devoir.

She continues to share her story decades later, raising awareness of the impacts of the World Trade Centre attack.

She’s not the only one who has experienced health problems related to 9/11. Out of a dozen people that she worked with directly on scene that day, she said half of them have experienced significant health problems. Others have been luckier and have managed to escape health consequences so far.

She said the City of New York and the U.S government were not forthcoming about how unsafe the air quality was in the area at the time, in the months following the attack.

Sonntag continues to be examined by the World Trade Centre Health Program annually. She has submitted an application to the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, but it will take at least another year to be reviewed and the outcome is still unknown.

When Sonntag was asked whether she regretted being at the scene, she said she only wished she’d gotten there sooner.

“All I could think was ‘go faster,’” she said.