Hispanic grandmother who was fighting cancer died when her house burned down in Queens, New York

Mildred Montesino, a 59-year-old Puerto Rican grandmother, died when her home in Queens (NYC) burned down over the weekend while she was winning a tough battle against cancer for the third time.

“She was definitely the strongest woman I knew,” he told Daily News Adrian, the victim’s youngest son, a recently retired dental assistant.

Investigators were still yesterday trying to determine what caused the fire that broke out Saturday night on the third floor of the three-story house on Dickens St. near Beatrice Court in the Bayswater section of the Rockaways.

About 60 firefighters battled the flames. Montesino was rescued with serious injuries. Paramedics took her to St. John’s Episcopal Hospital, but she could not be saved.

Adrián (33) explained that his mother lived alone with her cat in the one-bedroom apartment where the fire broke out. “They couldn’t find it,” he said of the pet. “They didn’t say he died, they said he wasn’t in the house at all, so maybe he ran away. He was already an outdoor cat, so maybe he’s back outside now. So I’m going to go and hopefully find him.”

Montesino had six grandchildren, and when he traveled his favorite destinations were Florida and Puerto Rico. Adrian, who lives in Queens Village, was visiting one of his daughters in Atlanta when she received the tragic news and drove back to New York.

Her mother had recently retired from the job she had had since she was 18 following her cancer diagnosis and had spent much of her time in treatment sessions ever since. “For me, she was the best. She was very strong..she fought this cancer. She (she had) already defeated him twice. We were going to relocate her to Florida.”