How a cancer patient found comfort close to his home [Video]

Bill and Patti were enjoying an active retirement on their farm in Vermillion until, one night in the fall of 2023, Bill found himself unable to pass urine. That’s when he and Patti headed straight to their local emergency room. A few hours later, images revealed the likely cause — a mass on one of Bill’s kidneys.

The ER discharged Bill with a referral to a nearby urologist. He contacted the specialist the next morning, only to be told there were no appointments available for several months. That’s when Bill called Southwest General — the hospital that, years earlier, had performed his open heart surgery following a heart attack. At the time, Bill and Patti had been unfamiliar with Southwest General. However, after experiencing difficulty finding a local surgeon who accepted his health insurance, he and Patti began researching and found its cardiac care was among the best in the …