(calm piano music)
- My name is Paul Macko, I enlisted in the Navy
in January of 1967 for four years,
and we were the only two United States warships
in the Indian Ocean.
That was more or less the playground
for the Russians, and we had no support facilities
over there whatsoever, so we took a lot of spare parts.
I had a lingering cold,
and I came over to get some antibiotics
or something, I couldn't kick it.
They told me I had walking pneumonia,
so they took a series of x-rays
and in the x-rays, they found something growing
and they took a biopsy, and it was a malignant tumor.
And next step was to do something about it.
- So we first diagnosed Paul about six years ago
with a carcinoid tumor, and his was pretty advanced.
It was obstructing two thirds of his right lung.
The best treatment would've been removal
of two thirds of his right lung.
While that's technically feasible,
it would've carried some degree of morbidity,
because it is a slow-growing disease.
We treated it with the tools we had available
at the time so that he would live as normal
a life as possible.
- I was pretty clean, but then something started
growing back again.
- Survivorship isn't simply number of days lived,
it's more quality of life.
His desire was still to maintain his quality of life
and to continue doing the things he does
without being dependent on anybody.
We've had excellent results
and so far, he's showing no evidence
of tumor occurrence.
- If they wouldn't have found this tumor,
you know, it might be all through my body right now
as far as I know.
- It makes me feel grateful that I've helped him,
because that's what keeps you going
and that's what keeps you striving for solutions
for patients that are in similar situations as him.
- One of the biggest things that patients say to me
when they come in is what is this survivorship thing?
What I always tell them is that I'm here
to keep an eye, to make sure that your cancer is gone
and stays gone, to be able to identify it
if it does come back, but then also help you
identify goals that you have.
Is it that you want to quit smoking,
it's that you want to lose weight,
is that you want to have a more positive mindset.
Yes, I'm here to do all those medical things,
but I'm also here to be human
and to listen to you and to be in the moment
with what you need.
- My name is Mary Crum, I was in the Army
from 1980 to 1983.
They seen a spot in my breast and you know,
we do biopsy, and I think the best thing
is to have a mastectomy for you
because it seems to be spreading all in your breast,
so it was really, really hard.
- Ms. Crum is a patient that came to me
almost 10 years ago, she really was able
to define some things that she wanted
to change about herself.
- She was genuinely concerned
and that is a part that's much needed
when you're doing health care.
- I have nothing but good things to say
about the VA, I've always gotten
excellent treatment from them.
- I'm back into walking, I am back into the move program.
I love the VA, I love my VA.
- And I spent a lot of time out at the fishing hole.
I was going out there almost every month.
In the winter I kind of hibernate, eat a lot.
(laughs)
- I want to be there for the good times
and the bad times.
I'm gonna help them and they're not gonna be alone.
- When I walked in and she seen me,
it was like, "Oh Mary, oh hey,
"you stay right here," and she go get the nurses,
"come see Mary," and they come in,
"Oh yeah, you look good," and you know,
it's that push, you know, that push
that makes people want to go on.