"It was as if my soul had collapsed with the towers," the woman in the famous 9/11 photograph lived with the haunting memory for 10 years and had to fight cancer in the last year of her life.

Marcy Borders' famous photo. Photo: AFP

On September 11, 2001, Marcy Borders was a paralegal working on the 81st floor of One World Trade Center. When American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the building, crashing several floors above her office, she escaped down the street and survived.

"I was cleaning my desk to get ready for work when the plane hit. The building started shaking. I felt like I lost control and panicked. I tried to get out of there," she said.

"Hundreds of people were trying to get out. I thought we were going to die. I'm glad I had the strength to get out. There were a lot of people injured, it was a horrible scene," Borders said.

A stranger pulled her into a nearby hallway, where AFP photographer Stan Honda snapped her picture: her face blank, her body covered in ash. The image later made Time magazine's list of the 25 most powerful photographs. The world came to know Borders as "the dust lady."

Obsess

The famous photo also seemed to symbolize her troubles after 9/11. She was haunted by the memory of that morning. She struggled with depression and substance abuse.

"My life was spiraling out of control. I hadn't worked in almost 10 years, and by 2011, I was completely stuck," Borders told the New York Post in June 2011. "Every time I saw an airplane, I panicked. If I saw a man on a building, I thought he was going to shoot me."

“It was like my soul collapsed with the towers,” she said. “I started smoking cocaine because I didn’t want to live anymore.”

After losing custody of her two children, Borders entered rehab in April 2011, eight days before President Obama announced the death of Osama bin Laden on television.

"The treatment helped me sober up, but killing bin Laden was a gift," she said. "I used to lose sleep because of him. I had nightmares that bin Laden bombed my house, but now I'm calm," she said.

Borders left rehab in May 2011, and regained custody of daughter Noelle and son Zay-den.

Marcy Borders and her son in 2011. Photo: Nypost

Fighting disease

According to The Guardian, Borders was diagnosed with stomach cancer last summer and underwent chemotherapy. Borders believes that exposure to dust from the rubble of buildings during the 9/11 attacks caused her illness.

"I asked myself, 'Is that going to stimulate the growth of cancer cells in me?' I believe it will, because I don't have any health problems. I don't have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or diabetes," Borders said.

"You can't go from being healthy to suddenly getting cancer," she said. Borders died on August 24 at the age of 42.

"My mother fought bravely against the disease. She was not just a 'dust lady', she was a hero and will live forever in my heart," said Borders' daughter, Noelle.

New York City Mayor Bill Di Blasio wrote on his personal Twitter page: "The passing of Marcy Borders reminds us of the tragedy our city experienced 14 years ago. New York shares the pain of her family."

"I can't believe my sister is gone," Marcy's sister, Michael Borders, wrote on Facebook. Marcy's cousin, John Borde, added that she was a "hero" and that she "unfortunately passed away from the disease that had been in her body since that fateful day of 9/11."

Thousands of people present at the scene of the terrorist attacks during and after 9/11, including emergency workers, survivors and local residents, were later diagnosed with cancer.

Multiple studies conducted over the past 14 years have found that many rescue workers and people working downtown at the time of the attack suffered from respiratory illnesses. The Selikoff Center for Occupational Health said last year that at least 1,646 rescue workers had developed cancer.

"I lost so many friends and colleagues during and after that tragic day. The pain of the past that I thought had subsided has now returned," John said.

According to VnExpress