Police Officer Douglas M. Bedell

In February 2018, Police Officer Douglas Bedell completed the Nassau County Police Academy and was assigned to the 4th Precinct. On April 11, 2018, Police Officer Bedell had a lump on his neck/jaw region evaluated. A few days later, after the mass was removed, Officer Bedell was informed that the mass was malignant and he was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Diffuse Large Cell B Lymphoma.

Officer Bedell was given several options for his cancer treatment and he decided that there was no other way than to aggressively treat the cancer. Over the next few months, Officer Bedell endured (6) rounds of Epoch Chemotherapy. Each round of Chemotherapy lasted (5) days as an inpatient in the Sloan-Kettering Hospital in Manhattan where Officer Bedell was intravenously administered Chemotherapy for (96) hours straight. In between his week-long chemotherapy sessions, Officer Bedell endured numerous PET/CAT Scans and continued to fight the disease. Officer Bedell eventually ran out of sick time due to the fact that he was only on the police department for a year. Subsequently, members of the Fourth Precinct donated the time needed so that Officer Bedell could continue his fight without the financial stress.

On October 15, 2018, Officer Bedell informed the Nassau County Police Department that he was in remission and ready to return to work. He insisted on returning to full duty and even insisted on requalifying with the Firearms Training Unit as during one of his Chemotherapy treatments he had numbness on the right side of his body which included his right arm on the side that he carries his gun. Officer Bedell qualified with a 92 percent.

In April 2019, Officer Bedell was informed that he was in remission and had graduated to getting scanned every (4) months. Unfortunately, the Chemo treatments had taken a toll on his liver functions and he is now in need of a liver transplant.

He continues to work in the 4th Precinct and the only sick time that he has used was to have his liver drained when it had retained (2) liters of fluid. To date, Police Officer Bedell is currently waiting for a liver donor.

Officer Bedell’s positive attitude and eagerness to continue working and also his perseverance in the face of adversity is an inspiration. He has shown determination and perseverance in returning to work after a successful battle against cancer, and then returning to work as a full duty police officer on patrol while awaiting a liver transplant. It is my privilege to honor Police Officer Douglas Bedell to be the recipient of the 2022 Theodore Roosevelt Award