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 Marvin Bethea,
President and
Co-Founder of Unsung Heroes
Helping Heroes, fights
tirelessly for injured
first-responders of the
9/11 tragedy.
Being a paramedic
himself, Marvin
was covered in wreckage when the first WTC tower fell.
After composing himself and finding his partner through
the darkness of fallen debris, he rushed to the aid of a
victim as the second tower began to collapse. Then,
recognizing the need to run for cover,
Bethea
grabbed hold of the woman and dived into the entrance of
a nearby hotel, narrowly escaping the onslaught of
cascading concrete.
Marvin returned
to Ground Zero three days later to help search for
victims, but the effects of the
stress and environmental
contamination would prove
almost fatal. Five weeks later, he suffered a stroke,
leaving him partially paralyzed and later was diagnosed
with adult-onset asthma, post traumatic stress disorder
and chronic rhinitis.
Although
awarded for his heroic service in the rescue and
recovery efforts, attorneys contesting his workers
compensation claim questioned whether he was at the site
at all.
Marvin’s persistence and penchant for the
truth resulted in his case being approved on July 24,
2006, nearly five-years later. It was during this
struggle in 2003 that he began to help other first
responders who may have been too sick to fight for
themselves, and in 2005,
Unsung Heroes Helping Heroes
was established.
Marvin
miraculously overcame his paralysis, but chronic
breathing ailments and the need to take up to 15
medications per day makes it difficult to go to battle
for survivor’s rights. Nonetheless, he staunchly
believes in this cause. He has testified before
Congress
on numerous occasions, and has sat as a guest for the
2006, 2007, and 2008 State
of the Union Addresses.
Marvin
has appeared on ABC, CBS,
NBC, Fox News, New York 1 News,
and was interviewed on several news programs including,
Your World With Neil Cavuto,
The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer on CNN, and Inside
City Hall, News Forum.
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