NYPD 9/11 Hero Saved By Double Lung Transplant Returns To Hospital To Thank Doctors: 'I Feel Very Lucky'

MANHASSET, NY — Last year, on September 11, 2024, William "Bill" Giammarino, 62, of Holbrook, took a deep, life-affirming, unassisted breath.

The significance of that breath was not lost on Giammarino, a former NYPD emergency services unit member who was sent to Ground Zero on September 11, 2001 — and who worked with passion and dedication alongside his comrades at the smoking pile after 9/11 changed everything the world had ever known, forever.

One year after working "The Pile," Giammarino wa diagnosed with COPD, a 9/11 related illness that, in the end, required a double lung transplant.

At first, he was able to manage symptoms with an inhaler. But three years ago, Giammarino's condition worsened and he was rushed to the emergency department at Northwell Health's Mather Hospital in Port Jefferson, where he needed an oxygen tank — and was placed on a waiting list for a life-saving transplant.

On September 9, 2024, Giammarino, who is married and has two children, underwent a 12-hour double lung transplant at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset — the only facility with a lung transplant program on Long Island.

Dr. Aldo Iacono, medical director of advanced lung failure and transplantation at the Northwell Transplant Institute, monitored Giammarino leading up to the surgery; Dr. Si Pham, surgical director of advanced lung failure and transplantation, served as the lead surgeon, Northwell said.

"I feel very lucky," said Giammarino. "I probably wouldn’t be alive without the transplant."

"A lot of people die of respiratory disease," Dr. Iacono said. "We’re just transplanting the tip of the iceberg."

With Thursday marking 24 years since the horror of 9/11, Giammarino reflected. He was steadfast in his mission to help, returning to Ground Zero every day over a five-month period in 2001, performing a variety of duties, including working "The Pile," where toxic debris burned for months afterward. Those toxins and fine particulate matter hung heavy in the air at a site cloaked in grief.

When asked about the conditions, Giammarino, a 19-year police veteran, said they were. "nasty. But that was our job."

Thankfully, he said, his care has been covered by the federally-funded WTC Health Program. Of the nearly 137,000 current members of the WTC Health Program, more than 55,000 have been diagnosed with some type of respiratory disease, including 3,959 first responders with COPD, Northwell said.

As of September 1, 117 patients have been approved to receive lung transplants. About 8,200 enrolled WTC patients have died over the last 19 years.

"There are life-threatening diseases being treated by WTC program," said Dr. Jacqueline Moline, director of Northwell's Queens WTC Health Program. "They can be stable for many years and then suddenly deteriorate — much like Mr. Giammarino. It’s the long tail of 9/11 — long term impacts are now happening. We need to remain vigilant for these heroes."

This week, Giammarino returned to North Shore University Hospital to thank the doctors who performed his transplant — as well as raise awareness for the ongoing health issues of 9/11 first responders and serve as a face for advocacy.

"I am deeply grateful to have been part of Mr. Giammarino’s journey," said Dr. Pham. "It was an honor to help restore health and hope to someone who sacrificed so much on 9/11. This transplant gave him not just new lungs, but a new life."

The Northwell Transplant Institute has performed 180 heart, 1,405 kidney, 400 liver and 58 lung transplants since each program’s inception. NSUH, which has 756 licensed beds and treats more than 90,000 patients each year, is the only hospital on Long Island that offers heart, kidney, liver and lung transplantation services, opening access to thousands of New Yorkers who otherwise would have to go into Manhattan for care.

A record 48,000 solid organ transplants took place at 250 transplant hospitals across the United States in 2024, including more than 373 at Northwell alone, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing.

Northwell’s Queens World Trade Center Health Program in Rego Park, operated by Long Island Jewish Medical Center, is one of seven clinical centers in the New York and New Jersey that provide medical monitoring, diagnosis and treatment of WTC-related health conditions.

Looking back on his journey, Giammarino said: "It was a difficult road. I got sick during 9/11 and years later, it caught up with me."

But despite all he endured, including being unable to put his shoes on, or take a shower without his oxygen, Giammarino refuses to dwell on the past — and instead, hopes to serve as a beacon of hope for others grappling with 9/11-related illnesses.

"I'm feeling that 9/11 is an incident that happened — but that incident is done now. And it's time for people who got sick to be treated. That's what's really important, that these people get treatment for their illnesses."

Giammarino said others should seek free treatment from the WTC Health Program — something that changed everything and gave him a new chance at life.

"I'm very thankful," he said. "I talk to people in the street and no one would think that I've had a lung transplant. I feel very lucky."

But, too, he never forgets. "A lot of people I worked with died that day — my heart goes out to them and to their families."

As for Giammarino, he said he never believed he'd get sick. "This caught up to me years later."

And, except for the double transplant, he, too, like so many of his comrades, would still be facing a terminal disease. "I probably would have died," he said.

But through the WTCH Health program and the team of angel doctors who saved him, Giammarino said, "Absolutely, there is hope."