[Text on screen: Tim's cancer journey
Wooster Community Hospital Health System
The James Cancer Network
The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center]

[Music playing]

[Text on screen: Tim Walker
Esophageal cancer survivor
Louisville, Ohio]

Tim Walker:
Whenever I would eat, I would take a bite of food, then I would swallow it no problem. About two seconds later, I'd get this pain in my back, and it hurt. I'm telling you, it hurt. But what are you going to do?

[Text on screen: Diane Walker
Tim's wife]

Diane Walker:
Every time we went to a different doctor, we never found the answer. And so, yeah, it was literally one more time, that's it. I'm going to one more doctor. If we don't find it, then I'm just going to have to live with it. I felt bad that I couldn't help him more than I could. And I hated watching him go through it, because that's hard to watch someone you love go through all that pain and not be able to help.

Tim Walker:
I got to The James and they checked me out. He said, "That's cancer." He says, "That's stage three cancer."

[Text on screen: Robert Merritt, MD
Thoracic Surgeon
OSUCCC - James]

Robert Merritt, MD:
Esophagectomy, or esophageal cancer, is a very difficult disease to diagnose. It's a very rare cancer. There's only 18,000 cases a year in the United States. It requires a lot of experience and skill in diagnosing this specific cancer. The Wooster Community Hospital, one of our first affiliates through the Jamie Cancer Network, we were able to coordinate care with patients who live in other communities.

Tim Walker:
So he said, "But I'd like for you to have chemotherapy and radiation first." And we're thinking, "Okay, we'll do this down here in Columbus." And me and the wife are talking, "Well, we're going to have to move to Columbus," because I had to have it five days a week for five weeks. So somebody says, "Well, what about Wooster? Is that close to you?" I said, "Oh, my goodness, yeah, Wooster ain't that far away." We have an office up there. I went to Wooster, had my chemo and my radiation.

Diane Walker:
And I'm so thankful for that, because we were able to come home after his chemo and radiation because we did that at the Wooster Community Hospital. And he had to go every day for five weeks. And just knowing that you were able to go home, sleep in your own bed, and have home cooked meals.

[Text on screen: Steven Walston, DO
Radiation Oncologist
Wooster Community Hospital]

Steven Walston, DO:
He was able to get most of his care here locally, and then get a very specialized procedure done at Ohio State University where he had an excellent outcome. And without that connection with Ohio State, that probably wouldn't be possible for him to stay here and get that kind of care. And really, the coordinated care where we communicated very closely with his surgeon the whole time and timing everything up, how it should be timed and everything. Excellent.

Diane Walker:
It's just amazing to see two years after, even one year after, that he was back to working in his shop, doing little jobs for people, because he likes to tinker with everything. That's amazing that he can do all that at this point.

[Text on screen: Wooster Community Hospital Health System
The James Cancer Network
The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center
For more information, visit: cancer.osu.edu/jcn]

[Music fades]