By Adam Pincus and John Tozzi
The 52-year-old retired New York Police Department officer died Jan. 23 while waiting for a lung transplant needed to counter a fatal respiratory disease his family said was related to his work on 9/11. His older son, 21-year-old Ceasar Jr., was preparing to attend the State of the Union as a guest of U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) when he learned of his father's death.Borja, a 20-year veteran of the police force, worked 16-hour shifts at Ground Zero for five months after the Sept. 11 attacks. His family is now pressing the federal government to increase funding for medical care responders, residents and others who breathed the dust of the World Trade Center.”This is still the beginning of our fight,” Ceasar Jr. said before the wake last Thursday on the steps of Martin A. Gleason Funeral Home, which donated its services. “I want the president and Congress to pass legislation to continue those funds until all are well, because don't all Americans deserve to be saved by Americans?”In addition to Ceasar Jr., who has emerged as the public face of the family, Borja leaves behind his wife, Eva, and two other children, Evan and Nhia. Ceasar Jr. was scheduled to meet President Bush Wednesday in New York, after the president announced a $25 million extension to the Mount Sinai program Borja was in.More than 400 people filled the pews of St. Josaphat Roman Catholic Church at 34-32 210th St. in Bayside for the funeral Saturday. Police and honor bagpipes took part in the solemn ceremony outside the church on 35th Avenue. A family member wailed in grief as the body was carried into St. Josaphat's and needed to be supported by her relatives. After the service led by the Rev. Thomas Machalski, six police officers bore the flag-draped casket on their shoulders from the chapel to the hearse as Ceasar Jr. hugged his mother and sister. Borja was buried at the Mount St. Mary's Cemetery in Flushing.Borough President Helen Marshall, the only elected official to attend the service, said Borja's family should get the benefits he was due.”We should not forget the guys who went into the Towers. They deserve everything we can give them,” she said.A retired Fire Department Lt. Tom Carlstrom, 53, who is suffering from illnesses he said are also based on his time working as a 9/11 responder, was shocked that Borja did not receive a line-of-duty funeral.”It is incomprehensible,” said the veteran paramedic instructor at Fort Totten, who also sought more benefits for 9/11 workers. Bob Nobile, a retired police officer who worked with Borja for seven years at the College Point auto pound, said he thinks the city did not give Borja line-of-duty-death status because it is afraid to set a precedent for other Sept. 11 workers who may fall ill.”You're going to see more of this in the next 10 years,” he said. “I don't understand the politics involved in this. I just hate to see who the next guy is.”Bayside resident Angela Kirsner, whose niece died in the World Trade Center attacks and whose son is friendly with Ceasar Borja, stood outside the service and was overcome by emotion as she said the deaths from Sept. 11 would continue.”There are going to be more people getting sick,” she said. “It is like a domino effect. It is never going to go away.”Reach reporter Adam Pincus by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 154.
