The Weight of Dust
The FRONTLINE Dispatch
GBH
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 13 December 2018
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Scott Gaines was a first responder on 9/11. When he retired a couple months later, he thought he’d escaped the aftermath unscathed. This time on The FRONTLINE Dispatch, a story about the lasting impacts of 9/11 – told by his daughter, reporter Amy Gaines.
This story was produced by Michelle Mizner and Sophie McKibben.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | So it's 2016 and I'm living in Boston. |
| 0:05.0 | My parents call me to tell me they're coming for the weekend. |
| 0:09.0 | A little unannounced. I'm surprised but I'm happy they're coming. |
| 0:14.7 | My mom says, you should meet us at the hotel. |
| 0:18.3 | So I came to their hotel, and we did the normal, you know, hugging up, so happy to see you. |
| 0:24.7 | And then they told me to sit down and my dad sat across for me and said, |
| 0:30.4 | okay, I have cancer. |
| 0:39.0 | Dr. Kobalski took one look in my throat and he looked at me and he said, that's cancer. |
| 0:41.0 | I didn't hear a word that man said 15 minutes after I know he was talking |
| 0:45.2 | because his mouth is moving but all I kept hearing in my head was cancer |
| 0:48.0 | cancer cancer cancer cancer cancer cancer. |
| 0:50.8 | My dad had strep throat all the time so he hadn't really thought much of the pain he'd been having. |
| 0:56.0 | And anyway, he hated going to the doctor. |
| 0:59.0 | So by the time he actually went, there was a bulge on the side of his throat like he'd |
| 1:03.6 | accidentally swallowed a ping pong ball. And I asked him what to cause it and he |
| 1:09.2 | said there's three causes at the tonsil cancer. See the first one is smoking. |
| 1:14.7 | I've never smoked a day in my life. |
| 1:17.2 | The doctor said the other causes were excessive drinking |
| 1:19.6 | or the H.P. |
| 1:21.5 | But my dad hardly ever drank drank and he tested negative for |
| 1:24.1 | HPV. I'm thinking well there's got to be something else I remember asking him |
| 1:30.4 | is it possible this is from the World Trade Center. And he asked me if I was |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from GBH, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of GBH and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.