Since witnessing the destruction of the World Trade Center, Fuji Bank vice president Yaeno White’s world has become blurry – and extremely frustrating.
White, now 59, suffered almost complete vision loss and a stroke shortly after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, which she narrowly escaped by arriving at work at the south tower five minutes late.
Three years and tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills later, the once-independent White has not received a penny in federal funding earmarked for people hurt in the attacks on the World Trade Center.
Patricia White, Yaeno’s only child, is fed up.
“She went from 100 percent independent and able-bodied to almost 100 percent dependent on me,” Patricia says. “She can’t function anymore because of this event. How can that not be compensated?”
Yaeno, a native of Japan who has lived in Los Angeles with her daughter since the attacks, was rejected by the now-closed federal September 11 Victims Compensation Fund.
The problem, according to her lawyer Stephen Grayson, is that the fund did not believe Yaeno sought medical attention quickly enough after the attacks and did not believe her stroke was directly connected to Sept. 11.
Grayson says they are appealing to members of Congress to pass legislation allowing the family to receive compensation.
Although Dr. Paul Barkopoulos, Yaeno’s psychiatrist, submitted testimony that stated his belief that the events of Sept. 11 caused Yaeno’s post-traumatic stress disorder, she was not granted financial assistance.