An NYPD officer and Gulf War veteran from the Hudson Valley died at the age of 43.

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Ryan Finlay of Monroe died on Monday after a long battle with pancreatitis. In 1996, he joined the United States Marine Corps after graduating from high school in Maine. He was stationed at Stewart Air Base in Newburgh. While stationed in the Hudson Valley, he met his wife, Melissa.

Finlay joined the NYPD in 2004 and was the recipient of the NYPD Outstanding Company Sergeant Award in his academy class. After 16 years on the job, he had to leave to receive medical care at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

He was the first patient at New York-Presbyterian Hospital to have the Autologous Islet Cell Transplant in 2014, according to his obituary.

After his ground-breaking recovery, he was selected to tell his story of recovery as part of the hospital's "Amazing Things" campaign. During the ad campaign, Ryan said the pain from pancreatitis paled in comparison to anything he dealt with on active duty, including once when he had to have neck surgery without anesthesia.

After six years of intense treatment, Finlay returned to the NYPD. In November 2015, he was given the Theodore Roosevelt Award, an award given to a police officer who returns to work after suffering an illness or injury, the New York Post reports.

A wake will be held for Finlay from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday at Smith, Seaman and Quackenbush Funeral Home on Maple Ave in Monroe.

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