As a survivor of 9/11, Fox News reporter Eric Shawn remembers the day vividly. The walk to work in New York City, the booming sound of an airplane flying overhead, and the rush to the assignment desk. What he told staff was that it wasn’t a small plane that hit the World Trade Center — it was the massive plane he had just seen, flying far too low.
Shawn survived the terrorist attacks. But 25 years later, he said he is still living with the consequences of what he breathed in that day.
His day started like any other. It was primary day in New York City’s mayoral election. A day that typically would have seen blown-out election coverage.
As Shawn walked to work, he turned past the Women’s Republican Club, which was crawling with reporters and their microwave vans. They had been stationed at the political headquarters, but as Shawn passed, they yelled, “A plane hit the World Trade Center.”
Shawn said he immediately realized it was the plane he had just seen. While initial reports indicated it may have been a small plane that hit the North Tower, he told the assignment desk at Fox News it was the airliner he just saw. Shortly after, he was on the air, ready to give his report.
“I was out of breath, saying that it was an airliner, that it flew over, and that’s what I saw,” Shawn told the Washington Examiner.
Anchor Jon Scott tossed to Shawn, and in his live report, Shawn discussed the possibility of a terrorist attack, just minutes after a second plane hit the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
Shawn said the crews that night worked 12-hour shifts. At first, they didn’t have masks to combat the thick, toxic dust cloud that blanketed Lower Manhattan. They were given painter’s masks and, eventually, NIOSH masks.
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This marked a day that would impact Shawn forever, with reminders of the conditions he and countless others faced near Ground Zero.
“By November 2001, I had a constant cough. I went to the doctor, and he said, ‘Oh, you’ve got the World Trade Center cough,’” Shawn said.
Shawn said he initially brushed it off and thought it would go away with time. The cough eventually turned into acute chronic bronchitis, which even ended up impacting his ability to report.
“There have been times where you can’t talk. If you try to talk, you start coughing,” Shawn said.
Shawn gave an extensive list of medications he’s had to take, like Prednisone, Advair, Z-Pak, Albuterol, Singulair, and steroids. He said he also developed GERD, or gastroesophageal reflux disease, and was diagnosed with skin cancer.
Shawn had his prostate-specific antigen levels tested, and his PSA levels continued to rise, raising concerns that he could have a more aggressive form of prostate cancer. As a result, he is now under active surveillance and regularly undergoes MRIs and CT scans.
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While reporting the 24th anniversary of the attacks, Shawn revealed his 9/11-related cancer diagnosis live.
“It is like the terrorist attack is happening to people literally every day. The effect is every day,” Shawn told the Washington Examiner. “It’s like al Qaeda has invaded our hospital rooms and our bedrooms from people who right now are ill and sick, and those who are on a deathbed because of what happened 25 years ago, because of those effects.”
Shawn strongly advocated for the World Trade Center Health Program. It provides no-cost, 9/11 related healthcare to anyone who was there that day. It helps responders and survivors and provides ongoing monitoring.
His medical history serves as a troubling reminder of the conditions he and so many others endured. Shawn stressed the need for greater awareness of the program to ensure all affected individuals receive necessary care.
He said many media professionals who were on the ground reporting that day, such as reporters and camera operators, may not realize they qualify for these services.
“They don’t know about it because we as reporters, we don’t feel that we’re first responders,” Shawn said.
Shawn said at the time, reporters and camera crews weren’t thinking about the health impacts from where they were standing. He said that, in between live shots, it was just focusing on putting on the mask and taking it off when they were on air again.
He said the full scope of the situation, with all the dust and debris, could not be conveyed through a screen.
“It was such a shock that the towers collapsed, and that’s what caused all the dust, and the smell, which you couldn’t impart on television,” Shawn said. “There was an acrid metal, metally smell. I would come home, and it was in your throat. This, like metal. It’s like you ate metal. That’s what I felt like. I felt like I had eaten metal, and it was sour and bitter and acrid.”
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Shawn emphasized that viewers were only able to see one side of what happened that day.
“You watch it on TV and see it. You don’t realize what goes into it,” Shawn said.
Shawn said he hopes more people realize they qualify for the free care, and even took part in community outreach events to spread awareness.
Shawn has annual visits scheduled with the program. For him, all of the people he sees there are part of a story.
“They’re middle age or older, and they were there, and there’s women and men. And you wonder, ‘Were they a firefighter, were they a police officer, were they an office worker?’” Shawn said. “As a reporter, I’m dying to know what the stories were. And I realized we all share like a brotherhood. We all share a quiet bond from having gone through this experience.”
He said that 9/11 was an attack on Western values, democracy, and individual liberty. The ongoing health crisis serves as a reminder of the event.
“9/11 was one day, but for many of us, 9/11 is every day because you’re living it every day,” Shawn said.
During reporting for the attack’s anniversary in 2025, Shawn said he was one of the lucky ones.
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“I think of the people who are so ill and sick right now, who faced death, whose families have been dealing with this,” Shawn said. “And when I was on the air last year, they were in my mind,” Shawn said.
The World Trade Center Health Program serves over 125,000 first responders and survivors of 9/11, according to the website. The program is authorized until 2090. Those who may qualify can fill out an application online.