<

My name is Santiago. I'm 64 years old. I live in sunny Southern California, Riverside. My wife, Becky, and I have been married for 44 years. We have six wonderful daughters from ages 43 down to 16 years of age. In or about April of 1997, I noticed a small amount of blood in my urine. I told my wife about it and she forced me to go to emergency and I did. Some time went by before I was diagnosed with bladder cancer. At first I underwent BCG [Bacillus Calmette-Guérin] treatments. Then my urologist informed me that I had invasive cancer and that it was at a stage IV level. He suggested surgery and I agreed to it. At this point of the game, I

figured I had nothing to lose. So I went ahead and agreed to whatever had to be done. I was totally, say, confident that my urologist would pull me through all of this. We had very long talks and he assured me that he would do everything possible within his own means.So we talked about the various procedures available. He suggested removal of my bladder, my prostate, my lymph nodes and my appendix. So all of that was removed and they installed a neo- bladder, which was made from part of my small intestine. That was a 14-hour procedure. My wife, daughters and sons-in-laws were all praying for me, and they were there while I was going through all my surgery. That gave me a lot of strength when I saw them all there prior to my surgery. I felt that, hey, somebody did care for me. And I also had made peace with my maker, and I figured that if it wasn't my turn to go I would be around for a long while; for a long time, that is. And my wife, Becky, and I also discussed how to apply for her survivor benefits, just in case it was my turn to go--my turn to check out, punch out, whatever. So, I had been through this before while I was in the military. There was times where I had to do my last will and testament and I had to tell her that I may not be coming back. So we were used to this, already. I guess this is what helped us a lot through this, we've been there, we've done that. So it wasn't hard for us to discuss what needed to be done just in case I didn't make it. We talked to our daughters, we talked to our sons-in-law, and Becky and I also discussed how to apply for her survivor benefits and what have you. So it was all in order. I went for my surgery and everything was taken care of. I came home. Several months went by and my urologist suggested that I go through chemotherapy just in case some of the cancer cells had survived the operation. I wasn't too hot on the idea but I agreed to it, and believe me, when I went through chemo, that was the worst experience that I've been through in my life! I lost all my hair. I couldn't hardly keep any food down. I was always uncomfortable. I was fatigued, light-headed and I could hardly stand up. What kept me going this time was the fact that I believed that, this too shall pass. And it did, it went by. For the last two years I've been doing some volunteer work. I've got long-term plans and what have you. I don't live on a day- to-day basis. I believe that I'm cured. And coincidentally, my surgery was on September 17 of 1997 that was well over four years ago and looking towards the fifth year of being cancer free. That's supposed to be--that's supposed to be a big thing in my life. And if I make it, there's going to be a big celebration. I've been doing a lot of volunteer work. I don't care to go back to work as a paid employee. I had retired from Eastman Kodak Company in 1995, so I was already set. I was ready to enjoy some peace and quiet and that's what I'm doing now. As a volunteer, I worked for AARP as a district coordinator. I gave them a year. I traveled all over extensively. I went to San Diego. I was in San Francisco. I was in Sacramento and made a lot of conventions and that was kind of fun. But that was a lot of travelling. I wanted to spend more time with my wife, my daughters and my grandkids. So now, what I'm doing with my life, since I'm a veteran, I go in to volunteer [with the] Honor Guard at the National Cemetery here in Riverside. I do three full days a month. Sometimes we're called out to do special engagements at schools, country fairs, civic functions, and what have you. A typical duty day for us with the Honor Guard, we'll bury up to ten of our fallen veterans. At the National Cemetery we give them full military honors, and we're doing this for the families, families of our departed veteran brothers. And since the active duty military can't do it, we took it upon ourselves to do it ourselves, so it helps. It helps a lot. And by doing volunteer work, this is something that I myself have decided to go forward to. I'm not being forced to do it; I'm doing it because I want to do it. And I think this is very important for a cancer survivor or any other survivor. You have to find a way to keep it going! We can't dwell on what we've been through, what we did, what could have been, whatever. You just got to keep going. And basically, that's my story. Also, another thing, I don't know what caused my cancer, but one thing I do know is that I broke every rule in the world. I didn't plan it. I didn't ask for it. It just happened. At one time, I did smoke. I did drink alcoholic beverages. I did siphon gasoline. [laughs] I used a lot of industrial cleaning agents, which are no longer in use. I don't know what caused it, but hey, it could have been any one of those or a combination of all of those. But in looking back, who cares? It's over with. I don't dwell on that any longer. That's all I have for right now.