Twenty-five years after she sent fellow officers into the chaos at Ground Zero, a 60-year-old Northampton attorney is spending five days on a bicycle to make peace with what happened next. Lisa Lippiello, a retired 15-year veteran of the New York City Police Department, was an NYPD lieutenant on September 11, 2001, and she is now among roughly 200 riders taking on the 343-mile First Responder Ride for Resilience, a route that runs from Boston to Battery Park in New York City.
The ride, which began Sunday, is intended as a one-time event honoring the 343 firefighters who died responding to the 9/11 attacks, according to MassLive. The full route, detailed by Livestrong Events, departs Cambridge on September 6 with overnight stops in Marlborough, Mohegan Sun, New Haven, and Stamford before finishing at Battery Park on September 10. Riders cover between 50 and 90 miles a day, per the same account, with Livestrong providing hotel lodging, breakfast and dinner along the way.
Lippiello has trained for the ride since April, and she told MassLive she is nervous about whether her body will endure the physical demands of five straight days on a bike, expecting some pain along the way. She is no stranger to endurance sports, having competed in triathlons involving running, swimming and biking, and she spends her summers in Provincetown when she is not riding trains into New York for Broadway shows.
A Lieutenant's Weight From September 11
On the day of the attacks, Lippiello was the one giving the orders, dispatching officers to Ground Zero as the towers came down. She has said she struggles with survivor's guilt tied both to the people who died that day and to the officers she personally sent into the wreckage, a burden that has followed her for a quarter century as she built a second career as a lawyer.
She retired from the NYPD after 9/11 and went on to practice law for 20 years, now serving as managing partner at Olin Lippiello LLP, with offices in Northampton and Longmeadow. According to Olin Lippiello LLP, she specializes in criminal law, family law and civil litigation, and has held leadership roles including President of the Hampshire County Bar Association from 2020 to 2022 and a seat on the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers from 2019 to 2025. In 2021, she and her wife Bonnie also converted their Northampton home into Downton Valley, an adults-only, trans-inclusive bed-and-breakfast aimed at giving women and LGBTQ+ travelers a safe space in Western Massachusetts, according to Northampton Living Magazine.
Lippiello told MassLive she is riding to show unity among all first responders, and that she wants law enforcement remembered as much as firefighters in the retelling of that day. She said the ride may bring her closure and help her put life in perspective, even as she braces for the toll it will take on her body.
Why The Health Crisis Keeps Growing
The ride's fundraising mission points to a crisis that has only deepened since 2001. The First Responder Ride for Resilience is co-hosted by Livestrong in partnership with the Brooklyn-based nonprofit Friends of Firefighters and the Boston Fire Cancer Foundation, according to the Uniformed Firefighters Association, with funds directed toward free mental health counseling, trauma therapy and cancer support services for responders.
Those services are increasingly necessary. A 25-year health impact report issued by the FDNY in September 2026 found that more than 12,000 enrolled department members have certified 9/11-related physical or mental health conditions, including over 10,500 with physical illnesses and nearly 4,500 with mental health conditions, as reported by Fire & Safety Journal Americas. Nationally, the CDC's World Trade Center Health Program reported through mid-2026 that certified cancer cases among survivors reached 28,913, surpassing the 28,131 cases among first responders for the first time, as total enrollment climbed past 145,000 members, according to Globe Magazine.
Nancy Carbone, executive director of Friends of Firefighters, has said that nearly 800 FDNY members have died from 9/11-related toxic exposure and cancers over the past 25 years, more than double the 343 firefighters killed in the attacks themselves, according to the Lexington Observer. The same outlet cites National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health research showing career firefighters face a 9% higher risk of cancer diagnosis and a 14% higher risk of cancer-related death than the general public.
Science Behind The Monitoring Push
The case for continued monitoring isn't just anecdotal. A March 2026 study in the Annals of Epidemiology, cited by the CDC's World Trade Center Health Program, analyzed more than 28,000 responders and found that enrollment in the health program significantly lowered overall mortality risk compared to non-enrolled responders through ongoing monitoring and specialized care. Behavioral health researchers compiled by SAMHSA have also found that roughly 30% of first responders develop conditions like PTSD and depression, compared to about 20% in the general population, a gap that helps explain why mental health support remains as central to the ride's mission as cancer care.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Member Handbook, the World Trade Center Health Program provides members with information about available benefits and services. According to the Congressional Research Service, the program provides medical monitoring and treatment to eligible responders and survivors, with FY2026 estimated obligations of $913 million.
For Lippiello, those statistics are backdrop to a very personal reckoning that will play out over five days and 343 miles, ending where the towers once stood. Her journey adds to a wave of 25th-anniversary tributes this year, including a Gettysburg motorcycle procession and a Cincinnati veteran's cross-country bicycle tribute to Ground Zero.
