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NEW JERSEY COPS ■ MARCH 2014
Cheers for Edward DeAngelo
Ewing Lieutenant shows his amazing strength despite being stricken with ALS
■ BY DONNA WEAVER
Ewing Police Lieutenant Edward DeAngelo was diagnosed
with ALS in October 2012, after experiencing symptoms that
included difficulty speaking. By the time he was diagnosed,
his speech was almost slurred, and his daughter, Melissa, said
he sounded like he had marbles in his mouth.
By May, Edward, 52, a 28-year veteran of the Ewing Police
Department and member of Ewing SOA Local 111, had lost
about 80 percent of his voice and sounded like he had been
the victim of a stroke. He continued to work and was completing the majority of tasks through email.
Last summer, as his condition became worse and his
speech was all but gone, Edward even responded to the scene
of a bank robbery. The once 220-pound stocky officer had
dropped almost 100 pounds, but was still on the job.
“Ed is what makes me get up every day,” said his wife Sue
DeAngelo. “I look over every morning and see him with his
huge smile and giving me the thumbs-up sign.”
It wasn’t until a year after the initial diagnosis that Edward
lost the ability to speak, eat and work. He is now under home
healthcare and will retire in June.
But he is still having a profound effect on policing, and
specifically members of the NJ State PBA.
On March 4, Melissa addressed the 700-plus members
attending the PBA Mini-Convention in Atlantic City and
briefly told her father’s story. The members quickly rose to
their feet applauding, an immediate show of support of
Edward’s request to raise money and awareness for ALS.
Life is very different today for the police lieutenant whose
daughter affectionately calls him “meatball.” His family had
to decide to put him on a tracheotomy so he could breathe
and also a feeding tube as his weight continued to drop. He
has nurses come to his home three days each week. Thanks
to modern technology, Edward was able to toss the pad of
paper he was using to communicate with his family in favor
of an iPad.
With Melissa asking the questions, Edward provided some
words of clarification and inspiration for the police brothers
and sisters he misses so much. He listens to calls come in on
his police radio and wishes he could still assist, but he related that he has another mission now.
“It’s your worst fear when you hear the news, knowing
there is no known cure or medical procedure to stop it or slow
it down,” he wrote. “What I want to accomplish is to spread
the word that it can happen to anyone at any age. I was told
by doctors that stress is a factor in this disease. My advice is
don’t hold things inside, you need relief valves t