Page 23 - Indulge April/May 2016
P. 23
Support Photo courtesy of Easton Hospital
eases
veteran’s
battle with
cancer
Tough. Tender. Tenacious.
Bill Buskirk has worked for 22 the cancer floor. His oncologist there “I cried as I fought sleep,” he april/may 2016 • indulge | 23
years in waste management. provided a solid treatment plan, but says. A nurse saw him, pulled up
From driving a sanitation truck to he still sought a second opinion. a chair, sat with him and talked.
running a crew to managing all the “She was there with me as I fell in
crews, he’s not afraid of doing the “The approach from each and out of sleep,” he says. “I owe
dirty work. physician was the same, so I chose a her a debt of gratitude for what that
hospital where I would feel at home,” meant to me.”
Ask him how’s business, and he’ll he says. “Easton Hospital has always
tell you it’s picking up. Bill is quick been a place I respected and trusted.” Dignity
to smile at his joke. However, in the
winter of 2015, he ran into trouble Bill worked at his job throughout Bill has stories like that about
with a problem of his own. his chemo. “I made a backpack the care he received both at Easton
I could wear in order to carry the Hospital and in the community. How
After going to the bathroom, Bill chemo-pack around,” he says. the “girls” on the cancer floor created
noticed blood in the toilet. A trip an atmosphere of genuine kindness.
to his primary care doctor led to a Following chemo, he had 33 How his neighbors shoveled snow and
gastroenterologist. radiation treatments — a 20-minute cut grass. How his wife helped him.
session five days week. After the
He woke from a colonoscopy fourth week, the side effects of the One of his most moving moments
surrounded by a different atmosphere, aggressive concurrent chemotherapy occurred at a Relay For Life event.
so he knew immediately that the news and radiation therapy began to He was helping his daughter coach
wasn’t positive. significantly irritate his skin. softball, fighting through even when his
cancer journey was at its most difficult.
“The doctor found something that “I’m not a good complainer, so I
didn’t look good,” Bill says. A biopsy just toughed it out,” he says. After a game, he drove to the RFL
confirmed a rare form of rectal cancer. event in Bangor. When he arrived, he
Toughness found all of the three coaches, 12
“Things flash in your head when players and their parents. They had
you first talk about cancer,” he says. The irritation worsened. On Easter made him luminary bags and on the
How would he tell his children? He weekend 2015, the pain became so video screen were images of him and
thought of his mother who died from intense that he went to the Easton his mother.
liver cancer five years earlier. Hospital Emergency Room.
“I held my wife’s hand and cried
“My family and friends are “I hadn’t taken any pain when I saw that picture of my mom,”
positive and supportive,” Bill says. medications to that point,” Bill says. he says. “I was overwhelmed by their
“So I knew that I could count on He was placed on morphine, but after show of support.”
them through this journey.” returning home, an adverse reaction
caused hallucinations. The images Together they lit candles and did a
Quite an understatement from an intensified and police escorted him to lap around the track.
ex-Marine. Bill has always used what the hospital.
he learned in the Corps in his daily By late August, a colonoscopy
life: respect, toughness and dignity. “I was never so scared in my life,” showed no signs of the tumor.
he says. “And I am not the type of guy
Respect to get scared.” That night, he didn’t “I was cancer free,” he says.
want to sleep, afraid of what was “Great news for me and even better
Bill turned to Easton Hospital waiting for him in his dreams. for all around who love me.”
partly because his sister works on
eases
veteran’s
battle with
cancer
Tough. Tender. Tenacious.
Bill Buskirk has worked for 22 the cancer floor. His oncologist there “I cried as I fought sleep,” he april/may 2016 • indulge | 23
years in waste management. provided a solid treatment plan, but says. A nurse saw him, pulled up
From driving a sanitation truck to he still sought a second opinion. a chair, sat with him and talked.
running a crew to managing all the “She was there with me as I fell in
crews, he’s not afraid of doing the “The approach from each and out of sleep,” he says. “I owe
dirty work. physician was the same, so I chose a her a debt of gratitude for what that
hospital where I would feel at home,” meant to me.”
Ask him how’s business, and he’ll he says. “Easton Hospital has always
tell you it’s picking up. Bill is quick been a place I respected and trusted.” Dignity
to smile at his joke. However, in the
winter of 2015, he ran into trouble Bill worked at his job throughout Bill has stories like that about
with a problem of his own. his chemo. “I made a backpack the care he received both at Easton
I could wear in order to carry the Hospital and in the community. How
After going to the bathroom, Bill chemo-pack around,” he says. the “girls” on the cancer floor created
noticed blood in the toilet. A trip an atmosphere of genuine kindness.
to his primary care doctor led to a Following chemo, he had 33 How his neighbors shoveled snow and
gastroenterologist. radiation treatments — a 20-minute cut grass. How his wife helped him.
session five days week. After the
He woke from a colonoscopy fourth week, the side effects of the One of his most moving moments
surrounded by a different atmosphere, aggressive concurrent chemotherapy occurred at a Relay For Life event.
so he knew immediately that the news and radiation therapy began to He was helping his daughter coach
wasn’t positive. significantly irritate his skin. softball, fighting through even when his
cancer journey was at its most difficult.
“The doctor found something that “I’m not a good complainer, so I
didn’t look good,” Bill says. A biopsy just toughed it out,” he says. After a game, he drove to the RFL
confirmed a rare form of rectal cancer. event in Bangor. When he arrived, he
Toughness found all of the three coaches, 12
“Things flash in your head when players and their parents. They had
you first talk about cancer,” he says. The irritation worsened. On Easter made him luminary bags and on the
How would he tell his children? He weekend 2015, the pain became so video screen were images of him and
thought of his mother who died from intense that he went to the Easton his mother.
liver cancer five years earlier. Hospital Emergency Room.
“I held my wife’s hand and cried
“My family and friends are “I hadn’t taken any pain when I saw that picture of my mom,”
positive and supportive,” Bill says. medications to that point,” Bill says. he says. “I was overwhelmed by their
“So I knew that I could count on He was placed on morphine, but after show of support.”
them through this journey.” returning home, an adverse reaction
caused hallucinations. The images Together they lit candles and did a
Quite an understatement from an intensified and police escorted him to lap around the track.
ex-Marine. Bill has always used what the hospital.
he learned in the Corps in his daily By late August, a colonoscopy
life: respect, toughness and dignity. “I was never so scared in my life,” showed no signs of the tumor.
he says. “And I am not the type of guy
Respect to get scared.” That night, he didn’t “I was cancer free,” he says.
want to sleep, afraid of what was “Great news for me and even better
Bill turned to Easton Hospital waiting for him in his dreams. for all around who love me.”
partly because his sister works on
