Memorial held on Long Island for 9/11 victims and heroes who have died since

OYSTER BAY, Long Island (WABC) -- A special remembrance ceremony was held Thursday night on Long Island for the victims of 9/11.

In a town decimated on 9/11, there's a wall commemorating all those lost that day. And then there's another wall for everyone who has died since.

On Thursday night, Josephine Paolillo saw her husband Det. Joe Paolillo's name added to that wall.

"Every time somebody else dies, for me it's like the towers came down all over again, and I'm sure this is going to go on for the next 10-15 years," Paolillo said.

The NYPD detective died two years ago of bladder cancer, caused by the air he breathed during the month he spent searching for his brother John, an FDNY battalion chief buried in the towers when they collapsed.

John and Joe left behind a sister, Sheila.

"I feel cheated, I'm all by myself except for my sister in law and my cousins, I have nobody, I have nobody," Sheila Kioskerides said.

The town of Oyster Bay, like so many other suburbs across Long Island, New Jersey and Westchester, paid their annual tribute on Thursday.

September 11th-related cancers have ravaged the first responders who were there that day.

More than 10 times as many police officers have died since the attack than on that day, along with hundreds of firefighters.

"We should be working to support the people that are getting sick from it now, as well as supporting the people that lost somebody 20 years ago, there's people being destroyed by this every day, we had an entire family destroyed by this one event," Paolillo said.

The beachside services happen every year, but they'll never stop and will never get old. They can't with a community of mourners that keeps growing.

CLICK HERE for more Eyewitness News reflections, photos and stories marking the anniversary of 9/11

'Eyewitness to 9/11: Behind the Lens' reveals untold stories, rare video of America's darkest day

WABC-TV looks back on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 to hear from the Eyewitness News journalists who covered the attack as it unfolded.

How reporter N.J. Burkett and his photographer escaped Twin Towers collapse

Eyewitness News reporter N.J. Burkett and photographer Marty Glembotzky rushed down to the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. While shooting a standup right below the burning towers, the first tower began to collapse.

In memory of Don DiFranco, WABC engineer killed on 9/11

WABC-TV engineer Don DiFranco was working at the Channel 7 transmitter site on the 110th floor of the World Trade Center North Tower when terrorists flew a hijacked American Airlines jet into the building on September 11, 2001.