They risk their lives to protect our communities and now some are fighting for help to save their own lives.
Mounting research is showing the link between what firefighters are exposed to on scenes and their risk for developing cancer later in life.
Often the diagnosis doesn’t come until after they’ve retired and are no longer eligible for line-of-duty benefits like worker’s compensation. Should the worst happen, their families also don’t qualify to receive line-of-duty death benefits.
Now there’s a fight to change that and protect the protectors.
David Massey was a big man.
"The strongest man I've ever known," said his daughter, Amanda Rucka.
He had a big family of four kids and eight grandkids who are all now left with an aching loss.
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"My kids not being raised by him, and then my mom, he was the love of her life," Rucka said.
Massey died in November 2016 after a three-year battle with colon cancer.
"He was having spells where he was passing out but thought maybe it was just blood pressure," said Rucka.
By the time doctors diagnosed him, he was stage four and bleeding internally.
"So I'm sure he had it for a very long time," Rucka said. "There was never an option to do surgery, it was just treating it as best we can."
Massey had retired from the Fort Worth Fire Department nearly six years earlier and his family quickly realized his disease could be connected to his 30 years on the job.
"He didn't talk about it but I know he knew," Rucka said.
But because his diagnosis came after he retired, Massey never qualified for worker's compensation for his medical bills and his family gets no line-of-duty death benefits.
"It won't bring him back but it would still be helpful and fulfilling to know that what he did mattered and that it was recognized," Rucka said.
Curtis Dunn, vice president of the Firefighter Cancer Support Network and district vice president of the Texas State Association of Firefighters, is part of a team that's fighting for recognition for retirees.
"They lost their husband, they lost their father and you have to look them in the eye and say there's nothing we can do,” Dunn said. “That's why I want to see this law changed."
The state firefighters association plans to push legislators to extend worker's comp protections for a buffer period beyond retirement, since cancer can take years to detect. That's something 20 other states already allow.
Proving a line-of-duty injury through workman's comp is also the surest path to secure local and state death benefits, should a firefighter pass away.
The family of Bedford Fire Department Lt. Keith Long recently became among the first in Texas to be awarded those benefits for a cancer death. It came after a long fight.
"We don't feel you should have to fight,” Dunn said. “We've got proof, we've got statistics."
Amanda Rucka just wants her dad to be more than a statistic.
"He potentially had 30 more years to live. We lost out on a lot,” Rucka said. "They need to hold up their end of the bargain. They know it's causing it, they know there's a link, therefore they need to step up and take care of it."
To honor a hero's sacrifice.
"He didn't want to die,” Rucka said. “He didn't talk about it and he didn't want to."
And support the family that carries on.
