Victim of 9/11 toxins loses fight

RETIRED NYPD Officer Scott Blackshaw, who spent days searching for his fallen comrades at Ground Zero, died at home early Sunday after a yearslong battle with cancer caused by 9/11 toxins, friends said. He was 52.

Blackshaw was first diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 2015. A year later, he was found to have brain cancer, with several tumors in his head.

Earlier this year, doctors told the NYPD veteran (photo) he had a rare complication called leptomeningeal carcinomatosis, in which the disease spreads to the membranes around the brain and spinal cord, and had just months to live.

Blackshaw’s Long Island neighbors sprang into action to help with his treatment, and in April, a new holistic program he’d begun seemed to be improving his health.

“He thought he was going to last. He really believed it,” said Mary Young-Lubchuk, a retired NYPD sergeant who worked with Blackshaw.

The retired cop was determined to stay optimistic until his dying breath.

“We were with him all day and he waited until we left the room. Can you believe that?” said Young-Lubchuk, 56.

Blackshaw, who never married, joined the NYPD in 1990 and was working with the 13th Precinct when the twin towers fell.

He spent more than 100 hours immersed in the devastation, looking for bodies among the rubble.

In 2010, the Huntington Station native retired from the force and briefly moved to South Carolina before cancer forced him to return to Long Island.

Black and purple bunting hung outside Blackshaw’s home Monday to commemorate his sacrifice.

Even in mourning, Blackshaw’s friends were grateful to have known a man like him.

“Scott brought us all together, we were all able to become friends,” said Young-Lubchuk of her pal’s Long Island community.

A wake is scheduled for Tuesday from 4 to 9 p.m. at M.A. Connell Funeral Home in Huntington.

Blackshaw’s funeral Mass will be Wednesday at 10:45 a.m. at St. Anthony of Padua Church in East Northport.