Hero’s Son Carries On

Ceasar Borja Jr. is a man of strength and resolve, but he has to be.
At the age of 21, not only is he the man of the house following the death of his father, Cesar Borja Sr. - a 9/11 first responder - from pulmonary fibrosis, but he is also the voice of all those who volunteered at Ground Zero following the terrorist attacks.
“It’s an honor for me to be a voice and represent the heroes [of 9/11],” the very eloquent Borja said.
Speaking in his Bayside home, the Hunter College junior said that he has requested a meeting with President George W. Bush, who will be near Ground Zero on Wednesday, January 31 to speak to a business group, in order to “Ask for $1.9 billion to go to any people who were at Ground Zero.”
“I want to express the crucial urgency of providing proper funding in order to have the correct health monitoring, state-of-the-art equipment, the best and latest medicine and correct diagnosis the first time for the FDNY, NYPD, EMTs, iron workers - everyone who was down there.”
“I also want him [Bush] to know that we are not expendable. Just because we are middle class, we are not to be forgotten.”
Borja Sr., who volunteered to work 16-hour shifts in the rubble of the World Trade Center “to save, serve and protect innocent lives,” was at “the peak of good health” in 2002 when he developed a cough.
According to his family, he was first diagnosed with asthma, then with allergies, and treated for each.
“It makes me upset,” said Borja. “It could have been prevented.”
It was just last year - five years after 9/11 - that Borja was finally diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, an irreversible scarring of the lung tissue.
“It was only supposed to be a routine check-up on December 19 [when he was diagnosed],” said Borja.
“He developed pneumonia, and on December 20 he was sedated and put on life support. The doctors said he wasn’t going to make it, but he woke up [from the sedation] after eight days.”
On January 23, merely two hours before his son was to attend the State of the Union address, Borja Sr. died.
“We were at a Washington, D.C. restaurant,” said Borja. “I had just ordered when I got a phone call from my cousin V.J. in Florida. At first there was silence, but then he broke down in tears, and the second I heard the tears I knew.”
Nonetheless, the brave 21-year-old soldiered on.
“It was an honor to be invited to the State of the Union [by Senator Hillary Clinton], to have a representative of Queens sitting in the gallery on that fateful Tuesday,” he said.
But President Bush never acknowledged Borja’s presence.
“I hoped I had earned the honor and respect to represent the people who lived and worked near Ground Zero,” he said. “I was upset when the president ignored me.”
Talking to The Queens Courier in an exclusive interview at his home where his father’s NYPD jacket hangs on a wall and oxygen tanks sit in a corner of the living room, Borja continued, “The world will roar if Bush ignores me for a second time.”
Then, softening, he fondly recalled his favorite memory of his father.
“I was three years old and my family and I were on vacation in Disney World,” he said. “I had woken up early in the hotel one Saturday to watch cartoons. I pushed one of the kitchen chairs to the counter and clambered up to get into the cabinet where my mom had hidden the cookies, Oreos. My father woke up and said, ‘Sunshine, get down from there,’ rushed over, carried me down and got the cookies which I ate while I watched TV.”
Borja explained that this memory was indicative of his father’s kind spirit.
“He is a loving and caring man,” his son said, refusing to use the past tense in reference to his namesake. “His presence is still felt every day.”
Now a pillar of strength for his mother Eva, brother Evan, 16, and sister Nhia, 12, Borja’s admiration for his father is clear.
“He was an ex-U.S. Army soldier with the 82nd Airborne Division, a paratrooper out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina,” said Borja.
“He was given an honorable discharge, became a corrections officer and then served in the NYPD for 20 years with perfect attendance,” he continued, proudly displaying the plaque his father - badge number 27964 - was given. “I remember he got into a car accident and still went to work that same day with his arm in a cast. I always wanted to follow in his footsteps, and draw strength from his invincible spirit. It is indomitable.”
But Borja also remembers the softer side of his dad.
“He made breakfast every morning. He would always make sure we did our homework. Outside he was a police officer, inside he was a father. He loved us fiercely.”
Having realized the American Dream, Borja Sr. “loved Queens and its diversity, and loved serving and protecting,” said Borja.
“People are wondering why I’m doing this,” said a son that would make any father proud. “I’m doing this to show that 9/11 didn’t end in 2001, it’s still going on in 2007. People still need help. There are children only five years old with inhalers - I do it for them. I do it for the fallen heroes, not just the falling, but the fallen. They should always be remembered, honored and given elite medical attention.”
“My dad served with bravery, courage and selflessness. He died a hero.
I have something to fight for.”