A 20 year NYPD veteran battling tongue cancer

Hi my name is Donna Amato. I am raising funds for my husband Patrick Amato who was a 9/11 first responder. The funds will be used to pay co pays and household utility bills since. Pat is becoming increasingly weak and unable to work. Pat was diagnosed with basil cell carcinoma back in 2018. He had the surgery to remove the cancer that required 13 stitches. With regular visits to the doctor we thought we had this cancer under control. Then in November 2022 Pat had trouble sleeping. The pain in his left ear would wake him out of a dead sleep. We went to the ENT only to be told the ear must have nerve damage. A couple weeks later while eating he started having pulling on the left side of his tongue resulting in him not being able to eat. After numerous doctor appointments and losing 20lbs in less than 2 months and finally the doctor listening to me to check his tongue. They found a hard lump on the left side of his tongue. He was told immediately to get an MRI. Less than an hour we had the results. Malignant tumor. After seeing the head neck and throat surgeon a biopsy was performed. The results were squamous cell tongue cancer. Pat is now undergoing treatments 5 days a week for the next 2 months. A total of 43 radiation treatments. We are praying these treatments work. My husband has been my rock when I went through rounds of chemotherapy while battling breast cancer having a bilateral mastectomy and trying to raise our 2 young children at the time. He stood by my side through every treatment as I will do with him. He risked his life like so many others to help others on 9/11 and the months following. Now 20 years after retiring he is suffering the consequences of that fateful day like so many others.