RIP. Throat cancer is a terrible way to go. Talk to your doctor if you have frequent acid reflux and look into getting an upper GI endoscopy.
Mortensen's "DeflateGate" reporting was sloppy and irresponsible; he (more or less) apologized for it later, but only after the damage was done.
In the end, Mortensen was just a tool of jealous owners (Indy and Baltimore, at least), compromised NFL executives (Goodell, because of his ties to the Jets), who hired a greedy lawyer (Ted Wells) and a research firm (Exponent) that would say whatever it was paid to say and whose stock isn't doing very well these days.
Despite all the distractions of Deflategate and all of the hate it generated, no one, with a basic understanding of Physics, believes that anything but three hours in 40 degree temperatures and a cold rain resulted in the loss of air pressure in the footballs used by the Patriots in the first half of the AFCCG that year and originally inflated in a 72 degree room. TB12's passing stats were even better in the second half of that game, despite being "properly inflated." Tom could have been throwing watermelons that day and still beaten "salty" Andrew Luck and the Dolts.