Deputy Michael Seeley, pictured at right, in August 2013, after receiving an accolade for helping to save the life of Robert Dillemuth. Seeley died late Friday after a brief battle with cancer. P-J file photo by Eric Tichy

Michael Seeley, a Chautauqua County sheriff’s deputy who gained widespread praise in 2013 for helping to save the life of a man and known for his career in emergency services, died Friday night at the Cleveland Clinic following a brief battle with leukemia, a friend of the family confirmed. He was 44.

Seeley was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in August after blood work taken during a physical a few months earlier showed an abnormal white blood cell count. He underwent a bone marrow transplant in November after his sister, Jennifer Scolton, was found to be a match.

However, not long after the transplant, doctors in Cleveland determined the marrow was not taking as expected. Seeley was readmitted to the Cleveland Clinic where he remained since January.

Friends of the longtime deputy, firefighter and emergency dispatcher came to the support of Seeley following his cancer diagnosis. His journey through treatment was documented by friends on social media.

It was an event that occurred July 28, 2013, that Seeley received accolades and a new friend. Robert Dillemuth, an Erie, Pa., resident who was staying at a summer cottage near Mayville, collapsed while jogging that morning after his heart went into arrhythmia.

Seeley, with the help of Nick Kompare, another jogger who was in the area, worked to get Dillemuth’s heart back into normal rhythm.

The pair reunited with Dillemuth in Mayville about a month later where they were recognized for their heroics. All three would meet annually to catch up on each others’ lives.

“I remember going to the Sheriff’s Office that first time and seeing Mike,” Dillemuth told The Post-Journal in a recent interview reflecting on the incident. “I said, ‘This is the man who saved my life.’ He was just so matter of fact because that’s just how he is.”

Chautauqua County Sheriff Joe Gerace on Saturday called Seeley’s death a “devastating loss for the community and the Sheriff’s Office.” Gerace said he recalls hiring Seeley as a deputy as well as working with his father, Wayne, who was an investigator with the Sheriff’s Office.

The sheriff noted it was “a pleasure working with (Seeley’s) dad as well as him. I got to work with two very good generations.”

“Mike was a tremendous deputy that put his life on the line to help others,’ Gerace continued. “He was also very heavily involved with the volunteer fire service and EMS. I’m going to miss his smiling face. He was always upbeat and full of energy.”