Keith Hamburger

I'm a retired firefighter who loves to sing. I remember singing as a boy while riding a tractor on my family's farm. I love to sing, but generally I sang where no one else could hear me.

I was 30, when I finally got up the courage to join my church choir. I progressed to music leader at church for a number of years. Now, at 70, I sing bass in a gospel quartet and take part in a radio-broadcast gospel show twice a month.

So, when my family doctor told me in November 2006 that my PSA level was rising and I needed to see an oncologist, I kept right on singing. After a biopsy in early 2007 confirmed that I had Gleason 6 adenocarcinoma of the prostate, I was offered either surgery or seed implants for treatment.

I knew I didn't want surgery, as I'd talked to friends who'd had that treatment and weren't pleased with the results. While I was trying to decide what to do, I saw ads on television for Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) in Tulsa, and I liked that it only dealt with cancer, so I called.

I came to CTCA in July 2007 to meet with oncologists and clinicians, and after a round of appointments and a battery of tests, decided Tomotherapy® radiation was the treatment option I wanted to pursue. I underwent 33 radiation treatment sessions, finishing up in September. Follow-up tests have been good. My PSA level is below 1, and I'm feeling great.

I know some people are really troubled when they get cancer, but it just didn't bother me. My mom fought breast cancer for a long time. I also lost a son-in-law to cancer, and that was really hard for me. It's not like I haven't seen what it can do, but I settled things in my life a long time ago with the Lord, and I know where I'm going when I die, so I just wasn't concerned.

Between my faith and confidence in God's faithfulness and promises and the things I liked at CTCA, I sailed through my cancer journey without even a second thought. I felt good through treatment and enjoyed those treating me.

From the moment I got to CTCA, I really liked everything that happened to me. I told my wife CTCA must have sent everyone to finishing school, because it was almost unnatural how pleasant all the staff were, how they liked each other as well as the patients and caregivers. They were more like friends than just staff, to one another and to us. One of the receptionists told me how people had written Scripture on the floors of the hospital before the carpet and tile were laid. I liked that too. I just couldn't have asked for anything more.

Because of my family experience with cancer as well as my work as a firefighter, I've encountered a lot of tragedy and learned the secret of a close walk with God. There's not much I haven't seen -- accidents, burn victims, the results of arson. I used to pray whenever we got a call and went out on the big rig. I know I need to keep God near and that it's my choices that determine that. He's not the one who moves away from me. I know God wants good for me.

I love the song Amazing Grace; it reminds me of God's great love for each of us and what He did for us through Jesus. As for my cancer, the lady who plays keyboard for our quartet is a cancer survivor, and I think she said it best. She wrote a song about her battle with cancer called Just Another Bump in the Road. That's how I felt. It was just a bump in my road.

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