Bruce Halstead

I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease in 1994 and was successfully treated by Mayo Clinic's great medical staff. Since then, Mayo has successfully diagnosed and treated me for renal cell cancer, skin cancer, and prostate cancer. I truly believe, without question, that I owe my life to the doctors and staff at the Mayo Clinic.

Mayo Clinic Volunteer Services gives me the opportunity to serve and assist those patients and their families who have also been diagnosed with cancer. I volunteer to serve in Mayo's Cancer Education Center where I provide whatever assistance is needed to the sensitive and caring professionals who work there, thereby affording them more opportunity to serve those who come to the center. Further, as a living and breathing cancer survivor, I often encourage those who believe their lives are threatened by this often-deadly disease.

Ben Stein, a World War II veteran, recently wrote an article in which he says, "I came to realize that life lived to help others is the only one that matters..." That statement pretty well sums up why being a Mayo Clinic volunteer matters so much.