Queens victim had just beat cancer: hubby

A WOMAN who perished in a raging Queens fire had just beaten brain cancer, and was on the road to recovery, her grieving husband said Monday.

Rita Sklar, 60, had put her biggest health issues behind her, only to die when a blaze tore through her Oakland Gardens home shortly after 11 a.m. Sunday.

Her husband of 37 years, David Rolo, said he went to church that morning while Sklar stayed behind.

“She said I could leave her,” Rolo said.. “She wasn’t comfortable going out too much.”

He said Sklar (photo) was on her way to recovering after doctors removed a brain tumor two years ago.

“She didn’t have brain cancer anymore,” Rolo said. “She was cured. She was gaining weight. She did everything on her own.”

Investigators haven’t officially determined what sparked the blaze in the two-story house on 217th St. near 67th Ave., but Rolo said there was an electrical short in a ceiling.

“It sparked a fire,” Rolo said. “She was upstairs. She must have gone to check what was happening. The smoke must have caught her. It overtook her in the hallway.”

Medics rushed her to North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, L.I., where she died.