Latest / Curtis Sliwa & Larry Mendte In The Morning / John Feal, Feal Good foundation Interview

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John Feal, Feal Good foundation Interview · Curtis Sliwa & Larry Mendte In The Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: And now we want to talk to John Feal. I'm
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: sure you all know John Feal by now. He is
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: the founder of the Feel Good Foundation that has worked
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: tirelessly for 9-11 first responders who had seemed to be
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: forgotten after 9-11. And he had to take several trips
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: down to Congress later on with John Stewart to try
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: to get them to finally pass the James Zadroga 9-11
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Health and Compensation Act. And he's still battling to this
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: day for those 9-11 first responders. But then again, he
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: was also a first responder. And John joins us now
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: from Ground Zero. John, as you're at that site, I'm
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: sure it's tough on you a little bit every year
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: that you're there. Oh, John's not with us right now.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: I was getting all kinds of signals. I'm sorry, John.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: I was confused there for a second. I apologize. Please
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: tell us about your time there.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, Lab 1, thank you for having me
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: on such a somber day. And many people use this
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: 25 remembrance as a milestone. But for us, directly affected
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: by 9-11, it's a day that hasn't ended. And it's
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: a day that is still killing. And it's a day
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: to remember those that we lost to senseless violence and
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: to the heroes that ran into harm's way and never
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: went home. But it's also a day to remember that
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: those who went there that got sick and died or
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: are still suffering and going to die in the near future,
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: we need to remember these men and women in uniform
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: and non-uniform. And collectively, we could do better as a society.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: And we need to create an environment where we bring
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: back humanity, compassion, and empathy.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: I want to get your reaction to Zoran Mamdani releasing
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: all of the files about what was in the air
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: Files that have been locked away now for over 20 years.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: Tell me what that means to you and what that
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: means to the 9-11 first responders.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: There was no smoking gun in those 170,000 files and
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: the ones that are going to follow that. We knew
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: that they knew we were sick. It gives us validity.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: But if they would have came clean in the beginning,
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: it would have made our fight in D.C. against Congress easier.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: And shame on them. They've got to live with their
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: decisions because almost 10,000 people have died from a 9-11-related illness.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: 57,000-plus have a certified 9-11-related cancer. So, you know, shame
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: on them. But today's not the day to point fingers
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: at anybody. Today's the day to embrace each other instead
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: of tearing each other down and lift everybody up.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: And today's the day to remember, and I'm sure you
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: have so many memories. I remember something you told me
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: one time that I still, it's still shocking to me
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: and I still live with. I used to, I traveled
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: down when I worked at WPIX on buses, buses full
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: of first responders who were sick when you were fighting
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: for passage of the bill. And I remember seeing you
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: at an event afterwards, about a couple, just a And
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: you looked at me and you said, you know, the
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: people you traveled with on that bus, half of them
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: have died. And it really shocked me. And it made
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: the whole thing real to me. And I know it's
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: real to you every single day. Are there some people
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: that you want to remember on this day?
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: Everybody that I've ever come in contact with that passed
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: away from a 9-11-related illness, I remember all of them,
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: and the list is too long. I've been to over
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: 200 and about 213 funerals, and there's been so much
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: pain and sorrow in my life, and I'm never going
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: to feel sorry for myself, nor do I want anybody.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: But we can take our grief and our pain and suffering,
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: we can turn it into positive energy, and we can
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: help others. And today we can hold the door open
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: and buy somebody a cup of coffee or lend a
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: shoulder to lean on. Or just listen to somebody who
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: needs to vent because this is a tough day for
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: America across the board. And I pray everybody gives it
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: themselves because, Larry, that's the true spirit of being a
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: human being, to give it yourself.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's extremely well said. I know that you were
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: on the pile at 9-11. I know you spent several
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: days there. I know you don't like to talk about it,
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: but on this day, can you tell us some of
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: those memories and what you remember the most of that time?
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I remember everything that I saw and
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: everything I did, but I went to therapy to block
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: it out. I'm never going to forget the smell. The
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: smell will follow me for my lifetime. But what I
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: choose to remember is the humanity, the outpour of love,
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: how we all put aside our titles, differences, ideologies, because
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  Speaker 2: on September 10th to 12th, there was nothing but love
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: and an outpour from, you know, These people that work
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: on the Pilari, they restored faith to a broken city
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: and a fractured nation. And these men and women who
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: are sick and dying, they deserve all the credit.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: John Feal, you are a national hero. I love that
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: I got to know you. I love that I got
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: to travel with you. I love you. And I know
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: your work continues. I know it does. How can people help?
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: Today, just be a human being. I don't ask for
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: anything other than just be a human being and do
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: the right thing.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: Okay. Thank you, sir, so much. It was good to
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: talk to you again.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: God bless you all. I love you guys.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: Well, John Field, the founder and president of the Feel
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: Good Foundation. He's a remarkable human being. Oh, absolutely.
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: And the testimony that he and John Stewart and the
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: other man who looked like he was dying. Remember when
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: he testified? I forget his name, Larry, but you could
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: see death marked on his facial features.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: Let's go to Ground Zero for the moment of silence. Oh, Larry.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: The bells will ring. for this moment of silence, and
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: then everyone will stay silent in remembrance of when the
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: first airliner went into the World Trade Center. You're looking
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: right now, as we're looking at some feet of this,
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: of all the presidents standing in silence, and all the
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: people gathered standing in silence.
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: And what I marvel at is how each of the
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: family members continue to have the pictures of their lost
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: loved ones, whether they were uniformed services or had worked
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: in the area or involved in the process of helping people.
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: It's great that they are holding those pictures high in
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: the sky so that everybody sees it. Forget the politicians,
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: everybody who's there to pay their respects. These are the people.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: This is what today is about.
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: Their loss, their loss, their sacrifice.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: And you know, every single person there has a deep
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: relationship with someone who died. They're holding up pictures of
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: those people and that's all that is in their minds
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: right now. Even though it's a large gathering, it's very,
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: very personal for each and every one of them. And
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: it's so important that we remember every single year, not
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: just on the 25th anniversary, but every single year, the
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: sacrifice that these people made, not just the people that died,
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: but the families and what they sacrificed and what America
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: went through. We'll be right back.