Alvarez, 53, spent three months at Ground Zero after the attacks and has very little time left,according to Fox News.
“I’m doing well. I’m comfortable, I’m not in a lot of pain and I have my family surrounding me,” he told the outlet. “I’m at peace.”
When Alvarez went for his last — and 69th — round of chemotherapy, the nurse noticed he was disoriented. He didn’t know the date or the hospital he was at and couldn’t answer simple questions like what year it was.
“The doctors sent me for tests and they realized that the liver had finally shut down and my body was filling up with ammonia, which is what was making me disoriented,” he said.
Fox News
Looking back on his life, the father of three — who was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2016 — told Fox he has no regrets.
“9/11 happened, we got called down. It’s my job as an NYPD detective to respond to emergencies,” he said. “So no hesitation. I’m no one special and I did what all the other guys did. Now we are paying the price for it.”
In this final interview, Alvarez wanted to emphasize the importance of health coverage.
“You need to be covered,” he told the network. “I’m lucky to have the health care that I’ve got, but there are guys out there who don’t have it. In terms of going through the stress of fighting cancer, they’re also fighting the financial stress of the health care. It’s not right. We served our city, our state, our country, and we should be compensated for it. Not compensated in the sense that we want to be rich. We just want the money to be there for our families.”
Luis Alvarez and Jon Stewart.Zach Gibson/Getty
Alvarez, who also testified before Congress alongside comedianJon Stewarton June 11, spoke about taking care of first responders — and why it’s so important.
“You made me come here the day before my 69th round of chemo,” he told Congress whileurging them to reauthorize funding for the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. “I’m going to make sure that you never forget to take care of the 9/11 responders.”
He told lawmakers that he has “been to many places in this world and done many things, but I can tell you that I did not want to be anywhere else but Ground Zero when I was there. Now the 9/11 illnesses have taken many of us, and we are all worried about our children, our spouses and our families and what happens if we are not here.”
Just 24 hours later, the Judiciary Committeeunanimously agreed to send the bill to the House floor for a vote, surpassing one major obstacle in the process of reauthorizing the funds.
It was after the committee agreed to send the bill to the House that Alvarez received the dire news about his health.
“So now I’m resting and I’m at peace,”he wrote in a Facebook post on Tuesday night.“I will continue to fight until the Good Lord decides it’s time. I will try to do a few more interviews to keep a light on our fight for the VCF benefits we all justly deserve. Please take care of yourselves and each other.”
source: people.com
