April 9, 2006 -- An alarming number of 9/11 responders have been stricken with brain cancer - including six NYPD cops, The Post has learned.
At least 11 of the Ground Zero rescue and recovery workers and their families claim in a class-action lawsuit - which includes dozens of other cancer victims - that toxic air and dust caused or triggered the rare, often fatal, brain illness.
Three brain-cancer victims have died, raising the total death toll in a 7,300-plaintiff lawsuit brought by workers and their families to 41, said lead attorney David Worby.
They include Stephen "Rak" Yurek, 46, a Port Authority emergency technician from Bayonne, N.J., who died Dec. 11 after a 16-month illness. He left behind a wife and four children ages 10 to 25.
His widow, Mary Ellen, said he was healthy before his 2004 diagnosis.
"He was never sick a day in his life," she told The Post.
