After surviving the terror attack, Borders fell into a deep depression. “My life spiraled out of control. I didn’t do a day’s work in nearly 10 years, and by 2011 I was a complete mess," she told the New York Post. "Every time I saw an aircraft, I panicked. If I saw a man on a building, I was convinced he was going to shoot me. I started smoking crack cocaine, because I didn’t want to live.” She went to rehab in April 2011; eight days later, Osama bin Laden was dead. “I used to lose sleep over him, have bad dreams about bin Laden bombing my house, but now I have peace of mind.”

She wondered if her cancer had anything to do with the dust and debris she inhaled that day. “I’m saying to myself," she told the Jersey Journal, "‘Did this thing ignite cancer cells in me?’ I definitely believe it ­because I haven’t had any illnesses. I don’t have high blood pressure … high cholesterol, diabetes.” She told the newspaper last year that she was paying off $190,000 in medical bills and had no insurance.