Rich Volpe was a buff 34-year-old NYPD detective when he was diagnosed with a rare 9/11-related kidney disease that threatened to rob his fertility and leave him clinging to life.

The illness — IgA Nephropathy, a debilitating disease his doctors believe was triggered by months inhaling toxic dust at Ground Zero and the Fresh Kills landfill after the Sept.11 terror attacks — forced Volpe to exit the force in 2004, his career and dream of starting a family crushed.

In 2013, on the day doctors told Volpe his kidneys were failing, he gave then-fiancee’ Angela, who also wanted kids, his blessing to break up. 5

“So I gave her the out, I said, ‘Angela, you’re young. You don’t need to live a life like this,’” he told The Post. “She looked me right in the eye, and she said, ‘I love you, and

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