Ground zero work after 9/11 damaged ferry captain's lungs. A young donor gave him new life

When the World Trade Center was attacked on 9/11, Tony Moyet was the first New York Waterway ferry captain on the scene to help evacuate the area.

He returned to ground zero to work for the next 18 months alongside thousands of first responders and volunteers. They would later learn they had been exposed to environmental hazards that caused life-altering illnesses including cancer.

In Moyet's case, the harmful chemicals in the air caused irreparable damage to his lungs.

“It’s something I didn’t think twice about because I knew it was the right thing,” Moyet said.

Moyet, who lives in Bloomfield, remembers sitting at ground zero, now the site of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, waiting for people and helping to evacuate them. His ferry transported people from the scene to Hoboken. He rushed back for numerous trips, getting hundreds of people covered in debris and dust to the New Jersey coast.

In January 2018, Moyet began to have a tough time breathing. He thought he may have pneumonia and went to his doctor. He was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and spent five days in the hospital. His doctors attributed his diagnosis to the bad air quality at ground zero.

“I was upset about it. I am a certified responder with the World Trade Center health program. I couldn’t do anything to change it and first of all, I wouldn’t do anything different that day,” Moyet said.

In the first few weeks and months after the attack on the World Trade Center, he said the state of New York told him and others the air quality was good. There was no need to wear a mask, and most didn't. When they started to wear masks, months later, it was too late.

In 2020 his condition worsened. He was diagnosed with aggressive chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema. He was put on oxygen 24 hours a day and was listed as disabled.

“I was terminally ill. My pulmonologist could not do anything more for me,” Moyet said. “He basically told me that I had anywhere from six to eight months to live. This is in December of 2020 and the only thing that would save me is a transplant.”

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Moyet did some research and found a donor program at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center. He was admitted to the program but was not a candidate for a transplant because he “wasn’t sick enough.”

He was on oxygen for months and in April 2021 he failed a routine pulmonary function test which made him eligible for the transplant list. By failing the test, he met the criteria that allowed him to be placed in the national database for a double lung transplant.

Moyet was officially added to the database and on the transplant list on July 2. In less than 24 hours, he was notified the transplant team had found a match and he was to report to the hospital within the hour.

On July 4 Moyet, 65, received a double lung transplant from a donor 40 years younger. He was removed from the disabled list and has not needed oxygen since.

“If I see someone on oxygen I sit there and talk to them. My goal is if I can get one person to become a donor a month, I am very happy, I am so thrilled. And everybody I meet, I ask them,” Moyet said.

After his transplant, Moyet spent 17 days in the intensive care unit. His recovery was "tremendously hard," he said. He had to learn to walk again while connected to tubes and bags to drain fluids from his body. He had two nurses on call around the clock while he was in the hospital.

When he returned home, with the assistance of his family and at-home physical therapy, Moyet slowly began doing things on his own.

“I had the mobility to slowly move with family members," he said. He was able to eat on his own, but it was very difficult. “You just have to push yourself and the more you push, the better and the stronger you get.”

He said he told his doctors his goal was to watch his daughter graduate high school and send her off to college. His daughter, who was born when he was 50, is the closest to him, he said. She, his wife, brothers and other family members all helped him through his illness and his recovery.

For his first-year transplant anniversary, the family planned a bucket list vacation through Europe. This month they are traveling to Venice, followed by a cruise to Croatia, Athens and the Greek Isles with a stop in France before they fly back to the United States.

Moyet said the lung transplant has given him a new life and he plans to make the most of it. He walks 3 miles every day with a 10-pound weight and does other exercises.

“I wasn’t to be around for my family, I’m 65 years young. I want to be around for the 80s and the 90s as long as I’m in good health and I feel great, I feel good,” Moyet said.

Moyet said the NJ Sharing Network’s goal is to recruit more donors. He said too many people die unnecessarily who could have been saved by a transplant. He has been a registered donor for about 20 years, and encourages others to do the same.

He wrote to the donor’s family and thanked them for allowing him to have a future of good health.

“I would love to meet the family and talk to them and send my condolences,” Moyet said. “Because of them, because of the decision they made, It must’ve been hard, really hard. I couldn’t imagine making a decision like that, but they did, and it is the gift of life because without it I would’ve been dead.”

Those who were at the site of the World Trade Center towers after the attack were exposed to dust that contained mercury, carbon monoxide, glass, lead, hydrogen sulfide, asbestos, and other contaminants and harmful chemicals, according to Workers Compensation Fund documents.

Fifteen years after the 2001 attack the Never Forget Project reported that over 2,100 firefighters and emergency medical services personnel suffer from illnesses ascribed to the attack most commonly cancer and lung disease.

First responders have also been diagnosed with other chronic illnesses and mental health illnesses, some have retired on disability, and multiple have died as a result of on-site exposure. More than 2,000 deaths were reported in 2018 all of which were linked to 9/11-related illnesses.

Davaughnia Wilson is an intern reporter for Northjersey.com. Contact Davaughnia at wilsond@northjersey.com.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: 9/11 work ruined Bloomfield man's lungs. Transplant saved life