Mortgage paid off for family of Raleigh firefighter who died of throat cancer in 2023

WILLOW SPRING, N.C. (WTVD) -- A charitable organization paid off a mortgage for the surviving family of a Raleigh Fire Department captain.

On November 12, 2023, Captain Nathan Burgess died after a fight with throat cancer.

"Watching someone go through that is terrible," said his wife Christy Burgess. "So there's a lot of peace in knowing that somebody isn't living that life anymore and suffering at the rate that he was suffering at."

Burgess told ABC11 she doesn't miss the final years of his life after the cancer aggressively took over and forced her husband to require around-the-clock care. However, she's grateful for the time she did get to spend with him.

"The fun we had 5-10 years ago when he cut up with the kids and went out -- the leadership qualities that he had. Those are things that get missed. He was a lot of fun."

A year after Captain Burgess' death, Tunnel 2 Towers Foundation announced it paid off the remaining balance of the Burgess' mortgage in Willow Spring.

Burgess said one of her husband's colleagues told her about the program after Nathan passed. And after exchanging messages and filling out the necessary paperwork, she eventually received an email that her mortgage would be paid off.

It immediately made her think of her husband.

"He's still able to provide and make sure (the kids) have a home and I think that's incredible. It's just sad that he had to die to have that," she said. "It was very overwhelming. There's no words to say to take that kind of weight off of somebody. To know that you have a place that you can always call home."

Additionally, changes in the state legislature providing cancer coverage benefits for firefighters proved to be beneficial as well.

"I would much rather have him have been able to survive and be present for my kids as they grow up. But because he died with the North Carolina coverage for a line of duty death, he still, even after his death, will be able to provide in an essence -- their college," said Burgess. "Without some of those coverages and policies, I wouldn't be able to provide for my children."

Burgess is continuing to honor her late husband through charitable work to benefit other firefighters.